Last-minute ceasefire talks between the United States and Iran looked uncertain Tuesday as a two-week truce was set to expire and both countries warned that, without a deal, they were prepared to resume fighting.

US Vice President JD Vance, expected to lead US negotiators if talks continue, called off a trip to Pakistan, a US official said. And Iran said it hadn’t decided whether to participate.

Pakistani leaders, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, worked intensively late Tuesday to get both sides to agree to a second round of ceasefire talks, according to two officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The ceasefire was set to expire Wednesday.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told Iran’s state TV there has been “no final decision” on whether to attend because of “unacceptable actions” by the US, apparently referencing its recent blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.

As Vance put on hold traveling for more ceasefire talks, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner were expected in Washington on Tuesday afternoon for consultations about how to proceed, said an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations.

The official cautioned that Trump could change his mind on negotiating with Iran at any minute, and declined to predict what would happen if the current ceasefire expires without another meeting in Islamabad, while noting that Trump retains options short of restarting airstrikes.

Trump says he doesn’t favor extending ceasefire

Both sides remain dug in rhetorically. Trump has warned that “lots of bombs” will “start going off” if there’s no agreement before the ceasefire deadline, and Iran’s chief negotiator said that Tehran has “new cards on the battlefield” that haven’t yet been revealed.

The ceasefire, which began April 8, could be extended if talks resume, though Trump said in an interview Tuesday with CNBC: “Well, I don’t want to do that.”

“We don’t have that much time,” Trump said, adding that Iran “had a choice” and “they have to negotiate.”

White House officials have said that Vance would lead the American delegation, but Iran hasn’t said who it might send. Iranian state television on Tuesday broadcast a message saying that “no delegation from Iran has visited Islamabad … so far.”

Israel doubts deal coming, preparing for war

Israel, meanwhile, is skeptical that a deal will be reached between Iran and the US, and is jointly preparing with Washington for the war’s resumption, a senior defense official told the Kan public broadcaster Tuesday.

“The Iranians are trying to stall for time and are speaking out of both sides of their mouth. We and the Americans are coordinated and prepared to resume the war immediately,” the official said.

Israel and the US have been preparing for a resumption of the war since the ceasefire began, sources familiar with the matter told the network, including conducting exercises involving fighter jets and refueling tankers across the Middle East.

During the visit of CENTCOM chief Adm. Brad Cooper to Israel last week, joint plans and a target bank were approved, including strikes on national and energy infrastructure across Iran, according to the report.

Those attacks would be intended to apply further pressure on the Iranians to agree to relinquish their nuclear program and enriched uranium, the report said.

Even if the ceasefire holds and the current war ends, the leader of Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebel group said, “There is no doubt that further rounds of fighting are coming, as it is merely a truce within a continuous conflict with the enemy.”

In a televised speech on Tuesday, Abdul Malik al-Houthi warned that escalation in the region is “possibly high” as the “fragile” ceasefire is nearing an end.

US says its forces board sanctioned oil tanker

On Tuesday, the US said its forces boarded an oil tanker previously sanctioned for smuggling Iranian crude oil in Asia. The Pentagon said in a social media post that US forces boarded the M/T Tifani “without incident.”

The US military did not say where the vessel had been boarded, though ship-tracking data showed the Tifani in the Indian Ocean between Sri Lanka and Indonesia on Tuesday. The Pentagon statement added that “international waters are not a refuge for sanctioned vessels.”

The US military on Sunday seized an Iranian container ship, the first interception under a blockade of Iranian ports. Iran’s joint military command called the armed boarding an act of piracy and a violation of the ceasefire.

Strait of Hormuz control key to negotiations

The US imposed the blockade to pressure Tehran into ending its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane through which 20 percent of the world’s natural gas and crude oil transits in peacetime.

Iran’s grip on the strait has sent oil prices soaring. Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at close to $95 per barrel on Tuesday, up more than 30% from February 28, the day that Israel and the US attacked Iran to start the war.

Before the war began, the Strait of Hormuz had been fully open to international shipping. Trump has demanded that vessels again be allowed to transit unimpeded.

European Union transportation ministers were meeting Tuesday in Brussels to discuss how to protect consumers after the head of the International Energy Agency warned that Europe has “maybe six weeks ” of jet fuel supplies remaining.

Over the weekend, Iran said that it had received new proposals from Washington, but also suggested that a wide gap remains between the sides. Issues that derailed the last round of negotiations included Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, its regional proxies and the strait.

Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf on Tuesday accused the United States of wanting Iran to surrender.

“We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threats,” he wrote in an X post.

Pakistan hopeful talks will proceed

Pakistani officials have expressed confidence that Iran will also send a delegation to resume talks that mark the highest-level negotiations between the US and Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The first round April 11 and 12 ended without an agreement.

Pakistan said Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met Tuesday with the acting US ambassador in Islamabad to urge a ceasefire extension. Dar also met with the ambassador from China, a key trading partner with Iran.

Security has been tightened across Pakistan’s capital, where authorities have deployed thousands of personnel and increased patrols along routes leading to the airport.

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