TEHRAN — “Fingers on the trigger” has emerged as a defining refrain in Iran’s official rhetoric in recent weeks, signaling a subtle but consequential shift in the leadership’s diplomatic and military posture as tensions with the United States escalate.

Increasingly convinced that negotiations alone cannot shield it from external strikes, the Islamic Republic is optimizing its forces and assets while calibrating its messaging to project resolve without provoking immediate confrontation.

Following an intensive round of US-Iran nuclear talks in Geneva on Thursday, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who played mediator, held a meeting with US Vice President JD Vance in Washington on Friday, in what can be seen as a move to prevent escalation at a sensitive moment. "Peace is within reach," Albusaidi wrote on X after meeting Vance, expressing hope for "further and decisive progress" in the nuclear talks. 

In an interview with the Washington Post a day earlier, Vance did not reject the military option while insisting there is "no chance" the United States will be involved in a drawn-out conflict in the Middle East. The final decision, he noted, rests with President Donald Trump, and "it really depends on what the Iranians do and what they say."