In a matter of days, US President Donald Trump has extended a hand to Iran and bombed Tehran's allies in Yemen. His administration has both demanded that Iran dismantle its nuclear program and offered more flexibility.

Trump has for years dangled force as a means to get his way in negotiations.

But on Iran, some observers see less a strategy than mixed messaging, with a real debate on how the norms-breaking president will handle a US adversary of nearly half a century.

"There is a lot of contradiction within the Trump administration on Iran," said one Western diplomat, who asked not to be named due to the sensitive nature of the issue. "Sooner or later, it will have to come to a head."

Trump said on March 7 that he had written a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offering talks on Iran's contested nuclear program, but also warning of potential military action if he refuses -- a threat also made by Israel.

Trump, who in his first term ripped up a 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by predecessor Barack Obama, returned to office saying he would resume his "maximum pressure" policy of........

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