The standoff between the United States and Iran deepened Tuesday as the U.S. declared it had blockaded Iran’s ports. Tehran threatened to strike targets across the region, and Pakistan said it was racing to bring the sides together for more talks.

President Trump has moved to block vessels linked to Iran from leaving the region after the country closed the Strait of Hormuz.

A new round of in-person talks between the United States and Iran could be held as early as this week, two people familiar with the ongoing negotiations told NBC News

When the plane carrying Iran’s delegation touched down in Islamabad for peace talks, even US officials were surprised at how many people stepped onto the tarmac.

The incident points to a deepening fault line within Iran's power structure between pragmatists willing to negotiate and hardliners opposed to any concessions

The US and Iran are looking to arrange a second round of peace talks in the coming days, with Tehran mulling a pause in shipments through the Strait of Hormuz to help ease the path toward an agreement on time and place.

Negotiating teams from the US and Iran could return to Islamabad this week to continue talks, following a lack of breakthrough in their last meeting. Negotiating teams from the US and Iran could

Direct talks between the two sides lasted some 21 hours in the first meeting of its kind since the war began. But there was no deal to end the war.

Iran has countered with a 10-point plan of its own. It calls for Iranian control over the strait, an end to the war and halting attacks on its proxies, including the powerful Hezbollah militant group in Lebanon as well as demands for compensation for the damage wrought by the war.