Cabot Phillips

continued to send more forces to the region, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Ragchi offered a much more diplomatic message.

But contrary to those claims, it does appear the Iranians are feeling the pressure for obvious reasons.

Last Tuesday, when the latest round of nuclear talks stalled, the Iranians said they would need two weeks to come up with a new version of their offer.

But the ensuing military buildup on their shores appeared to get their attention and expedite that process.

And now White House officials are saying that they're expecting the latest version by tomorrow.

And on Thursday, the two sides will sit down again in Geneva for another batch of talks.

For his part, Steve Witkoff, that's President Trump's top negotiator in the Middle East, said over the weekend that Trump is actually surprised that Iran has not done more to reach a deal despite this military buildup on their shores.

He's curious as to why they haven't

The other factor complicating this entire situation is concern over how Iran would respond to a broad attack.

Pentagon officials have reportedly warned the White House

that the regime could direct proxies in the Middle East to conduct retaliatory terror attacks on Western targets, including in the U.S.

Remember, for years now, as we've talked about on the show, the DHS has been warning that Iranian-backed sleeper cells could have crossed the border undetected under the Biden administration.

So all that to say, a preemptive attack opens up a whole new set of concerns.

For all his bluster, there are still plenty of indications that he prefers a diplomatic solution here.

Yes, he often brings up his successful capture of Maduro and that successful bombing operation on Iran last summer.

But even more frequently, he brings up all of the treaties and peace deals that he's negotiated since retaking the office.

For obvious reasons, he would love to be the president who finally convinces Iran to abandon their pursuit of nukes, and it would bolster his peacemaker-in-chief persona that he has really tried to foster this term.

For the optimists hoping for a deal, there was a report this weekend that offered a sliver of hope.

According to Axios, President Trump is considering a deal with Iran that would force them to dismantle their facilities working towards a nuke,

but allow them to keep what they're calling a, quote, token nuclear program that could only be used for civilian purposes.