Ortagus Warns Iran Is Using Nuclear Talks to Buy Time as Trump Pauses Strikes

8 articles · Updated · Fox News · May 21

Morgan Ortagus said Iran is likely using the current nuclear talks to “stall” and “buy time” after Trump paused planned military strikes and extended a fragile ceasefire to keep diplomacy alive.
Trump’s former envoy argued Tehran has repeatedly stretched out negotiations to preserve leverage, while saying this White House still holds stronger bargaining power than past U.S. teams.
Iran has rejected U.S. demands for zero enrichment, insisting it has a sovereign right to a civilian nuclear program even as Western governments and the IAEA question its enrichment levels and transparency.
Ortagus also tied the diplomacy to the Israel-Lebanon front, saying Hezbollah—not the Lebanese state—is the main barrier to peace because the Iranian proxy keeps acting independently despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire extension.
The remarks land amid a Republican debate over whether confronting Iran risks another Middle East entanglement, with Ortagus arguing limited force and negotiations can be pursued together.

Are Trump's talks with Iran's parliament a real diplomatic chance, or is Tehran just playing for time?

Does a strategy of constant pressure risk pushing Iran to seek the ultimate deterrent: a nuclear weapon?

Is the Lebanese state a helpless hostage of Hezbollah, or does it quietly enable the group's actions against Israel?