FRANCE PERSPECTIVE

Paris, May 24, 2026. Donald Trump chose to cool expectations he himself had helped fuel. While Washington and Tehran had suggested in recent weeks that substantial progress was being made toward a negotiated settlement of the conflict, the American president posted a clear message on social media Sunday: 'I have instructed my representatives not to rush into an agreement, because time is on our side.' This sudden repositioning, reported by France 24, raises questions in Paris about the real strategy of the American administration in this burning issue.

The conflict erupted on February 28, 2026, when the United States and Israel struck the Islamic Republic. Tehran retaliated with missile and drone attacks against regional countries hosting American military assets. On March 2, Hezbollah, Iran's Lebanese ally, attacked Israel after American-Israeli strikes killed Iran's Supreme Leader. A ceasefire has been in effect since April 8, but the situation remains fragile: Iran has imposed controls over navigation in the Gulf, while Washington maintains a blockade of Iranian ports.

The proposed agreement under negotiation, as described by France 24, reveals the complexity of the matter: it would appear to temporarily avoid any debate over Iran's nuclear program—a question that is nevertheless central—to focus instead on reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the vital artery of global hydrocarbon trade. This phased approach testifies to the difficulties in finding common ground on substantive issues. Paris, monitoring crude oil price movements and regional stability with particular attention, can only register the fragility of a process where the principal American guarantor chooses himself to slow its pace.

Trump's formula 'time is on our side' resonates as a signal of sustained pressure on Tehran, whose economy is suffering severely from the American port blockade. But it also generates strategic uncertainty: how much longer will the ceasefire hold if no credible diplomatic horizon is outlined? France, engaged in multilateral frameworks for Middle East crisis management, observes that the logic of force continues to prevail at this stage over that of compromise. The Iranian nuclear dossier, put on hold to attempt to unblock negotiations over Hormuz, does not disappear: it remains the Gordian knot that the Trump administration postpones to a later phase whose contours remain unknown.