Mark Halperin

What's the state of play on the ground and in the negotiations?

And it all comes in the wake of this week's decision by President Trump to coax the Iranians into a two-week ceasefire and the prospect of negotiations this weekend in Islamabad in Pakistan.

And

Why is a two-week ceasefire so complicated?

Why is there a fog of peace, fog of ceasefire?

David Ignatius, the great columnist who's been a guest here before, led his column this morning in the Washington Post by saying, diplomats like ambiguity.

And he's right.

When you've got warring parties who went to war for a reason or various reasons,

Getting them to the negotiating table requires ambiguity, requires creating the opportunity for both parties to come in, not conceding defeat, not saying they're coming to surrender.

And both to talk with some bravado about driving a hard bargain.

Now, sometimes one party clearly has the advantage.

The United States would argue, I think, the government does argue, that they do come into these negotiations if they occur with an advantage.

But the Iranians have both a swagger and a profession of strength and some strength.

They still have a military capacity, despite the United States claims that it's basically been decimated, destroyed rather.

They still have control of the Strait, and that's turned out to be an extraordinary source of both symbolic and substantive power.

And then what caused them to get to the negotiating table?

What allowed them to get there?

News organizations around the world are covering a multi-ring circus now in the wake of the ceasefire.

Will there be peace talks in the Islamabad?

Depends on a lot of variables.