Mary Margaret Olihan

Hey, guys.

So, yes, J.D.

Vance arrived back in Washington, D.C.

on Sunday after marathon negotiations in Pakistan with the Iranians all weekend, as we reported yesterday.

Now, late Sunday night, Trump reminded the world that the United States would blockade ships from entering or exiting Iranian ports online.

on Monday beginning at 10 a.m.

ET.

So, of course, all of Washington was dialed in, watching breathlessly as this deadline drew near.

Now, Monday morning, the president posted again, reminding us that Iran's navy has been, as he says, completely obliterated and that some 158 of their ships are, quote, laying at the bottom of the sea.

He then sent the Iranian regime a clear warning, and I'm quoting here, what we have not hit are their small number of what they call fast attack ships,

because we don't consider them much of a threat.

Warning, if any of these ships come anywhere close to our blockade, they will be immediately eliminated using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on the boats at sea.

It is quick and brutal.

Now, he was asked at the White House yesterday what he will do if a deal isn't reached by the end of the ceasefire, and he didn't give us much.

Here's what they told me.

The negotiations, though they didn't end in a deal, helped the United States understand just how little Iran understood their own situation.

Vance dug into the Iranians' assessment of their own position, and he figured out that they had fundamentally misunderstood the cards that they had in their hand.

That's why Vance left after he made that final offer, I'm told, because in his view, if the Iranians believe they have leverage that they don't have, no deal is possible.

I'm also told that the White House views it this way.

And before they're ready to entertain a serious offer, the Iranians need to recognize that the realities on the ground do not match their assumptions heading into these negotiations.