"Two weeks" turned out to be two days.
On Thursday Donald Trump gave the Iranians a deadline if they wanted to avoid a US strike on their nuclear facilities, but that deadline turned out to be much shorter than expected.
Two days later, the US president announced on Saturday evening that US warplanes had bombed three nuclear sites, in an attack he said was "very successful".
Was the "two-week deadline" for negotations a feint? A bid to lure the Iranians into a false sense of security this weekend? Or did behind-the-scenes negotiations led by Trump's designated peacemaker Steve Witkoff collapse?
In the immediate aftermath of the strikes, little is known. But in his social media post declaring the attacks, Trump added that "now is the time for peace".
