Beating the drums of war could summon its return. It could also lead the hawks to offer concessions and ripen the conditions for a settlement. We are in the midst of a major crisis that could be more dangerous than any of the ailing Middle East’s wars.

The parties constantly check their watches. Time is running out. The American-Iranian truce expires on Wednesday. Patience is not among Donald Trump’s virtues and surrender is not something the generals of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps can stomach. Another party is watching on and anxiously counting down the clock: the global economy, which is now held hostage in the Strait of Hormuz and caught in a military and economic crisis with implications for countries near and far.

It is no surprise that these fateful days are brimming with schemes, brinkmanship, leaks and threats. Trump demands that Iran explicitly abandon its nuclear ambitions and refrain from pursuing nuclear weapons in the future. That is why he rejects enrichment and insists on taking possession of the highly enriched uranium currently buried under the rubble of American airstrikes.

He also demands constraints to Iran’s missile program, which it has used more against the neighbors who avoided entering the war than its enemies. He further demands that Iran stop using its proxies — those “small armies” originally fostered, financed and armed by Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Should........

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