The fog of war usually refers to maddening confusion about what is happening on the battlefield.

But right now we have the fog of peace talks: Are they real, are they going anywhere, and which side is telling the truth?

It’s clear that President Trump, insisting he can end the war with Iran whenever he wants, is looking for an exit ramp to declare victory and get out.

WINNING THE BATTLES, LOSING THE WAR? AMERICA MUST DEFINE THE ENDGAME IN IRAN

It’s just as clear that the theocratic dictatorship–at least the leaders who survived the attacks that killed the ayatollah and many others–are digging in their heels. They will claim victory just for surviving the military onslaught that has decimated their navy and air force.

When Trump said there were back-channel talks–granting a five-day delay on threats to obliterate its energy facilities–the Iranians flatly denied it. Some prominent pundits doubted Trump. But then Tehran said yeah, well, there have been some secret contacts.

Now we have starkly different accounts of what’s going down.

Trump says the talks have been “very good.” The other day, in fact, he depicted the mullahs as making a major concession.

The Iranians have given the U.S. “a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money,” Trump said. He was cagey about it, but revealed under questioning by CBS’s Ed O’Keefe that it involved the flow of oil and the Strait of Hormuz.

At the same time, Iranian military spokesman Ebrahim Zolfaghari taunted the administration in a video: “Has the level of your internal conflict reached the point where you are negotiating with yourselves?”

“Do not call your defeat an agreement,” he said.

And for good measure: “Someone like us will never come to terms with someone like you. Not now, not ever.”

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Now some of this is undoubtedly done for domestic consumption. But the two sides sound like they couldn’t be farther apart.

The president has delivered a flurry of mixed messages on the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow passageway where an Iranian blockade has choked off one-fifth of the world’s oil traffic. He has said that the situation will work itself out. He has said our European allies (who refused to join our effort to intervene) should resolve this since the U.S. doesn’t rely on the strait. And he has also said that opening Hormuz is a top American priority.

Iran, which has sprinkled the strait with mines, told the U.N. that the waterway is open to any country not backing the U.S. and Israeli attacks. But other nations, and their insurance companies, are reluctant to send billion-dollar tankers into such troubled waters.

The impasse is hurting the president here at home, where soaring oil costs have boosted gas prices and tanked the stock market, shrinking the value of all those 401Ks. When Trump announced the bombing pause Monday, the market snapped back for a day. If there’s one thing Wall Street hates, it’s uncertainty.

Despite signaling that the war is practically over because “we’ve won,” Trump just dispatched at least 1,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne to the Middle East, along with the USS Tripoli, carrying 2,200 Marines.

Meanwhile, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has been playing the bad cop, vowing if there’s no deal “to destroy the enemy as viciously as possible.”

What’s equally unclear is who we’re talking to, with Pakistan playing the intermediary role. Trump has talked about regime change, though there seems no chance of that, and there’s chatter about doing business with the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Ghalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guard commander who at times has taken a diplomatic approach with the West. 

But with so many leaders killed and Ayatollah Khamenei’s son in hiding, no one knows how much influence Ghalibaf, a failed presidential candidate, still has.

Just yesterday, Ghalibaf, invoking the Israeli prime minister, warned the administration against sacrificing American soldiers for “Netanyahu’s delusions,” according to al-Jazeera. That hardly sounds conciliatory.

What’s more, the Iranians are famously difficult to negotiate with, going back on promises and moving the goalposts. Just ask Jimmy Carter.

Trump tore up the Obama administration’s nuke deal with the Iranians when he first took office, and now says he wants an agreement in which they renounce the pursuit of nuclear weapons. That is extremely unlikely, although the U.S. attacks last June and this month have obviously crippled their efforts.

My sense is that Trump doesn’t want to bomb Iran’s oil and gas facilities, which would clearly extend the war and widen a conflict that has already spread to the surrounding Arab countries. Nor does he want to be seen as backing down. No wonder he’s postponed a showdown.

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“President Trump does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said yesterday.

The Iranians don’t want a temporary pause in the war, unnamed officials told the New York Times, out of concern that the U.S. and Israel would use the time to rebuild their forces for further airstrikes.

Iran’s only real weapon right now is drones, a few of which have caused damage in Israel, while others are aimed at U.S. military bases in the region. One drone sparked a huge fire at the Kuwaiti airport.

A report by the state broadcaster, Press TV, confirms that Iran won’t accept the U.S. proposal for a cease-fire. In its counter-offer, the dictatorship would also keep sole control of the Strait of Hormuz.

Among other demands, according to Press TV: Guarantees that the attacks on Iran won’t be started up again, and the payment of war damages and reparations. Iran wants any deal extended to Hezbollah, its Lebanese proxy, which fired rockets at Israel when the war began, triggering an invasion of southern Lebanon.

Another state media outlet, Fars News Agency, quoted a source as saying of a cease-fire: “It is not logical to enter into such a process with those who violate the agreement.”

The president has lashed out at the media for painting a relentlessly negative picture of a war that has largely been an American triumph. But it turns out that covering the endgame — if that’s what this is — is equally challenging.

At the moment, it looks like Trump wants a deal more than Iran, given the war’s unpopularity at home and its damage to the economy. For an America First candidate who ran against foreign wars, the prospect of a long, Iraq-style quagmire would be the worst possible outcome.

“Is the U.S. Repeating the Mistakes That Led to Forever Wars?” the Wall Street Journal asked yesterday.

But the coverage of the latest rhetorical sniping accurately reflects the vagueness of a process that may not deserve to be called negotiations.

It is, above all, a blinding fog.   

An illegal immigrant accused of groping girls at his high school in Virginia is now facing additional charges after more victims came forward, according to police.

Israel Flores Ortiz, 18, was already facing nine counts of assault and battery for allegedly inappropriately touching female classmates at a Fairfax County school. 

Fairfax police were alerted on March 5 by Fairfax High School about reports of multiple assaults on campus. An arrest warrant was issued, and Flores Ortiz turned himself in on March 7.

On Wednesday, police said he was served with four more counts of the same charges after additional victims reported his behavior during the investigation.

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Flores Ortiz is currently being held at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center without bond.

The Department of Homeland Security said the suspect is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who arrived in the U.S. in 2024.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement said a detainer has been filed on Flores Ortiz.

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“We are calling on Fairfax County to honor our detainer to ensure this violent criminal is removed from our country so he can never claim another victim again,” DHS said in a statement to Fox 5.

Parents in Fairfax County had voiced outrage after his initial charges.

“It’s terrifying as a parent because when I send my daughters to school, I think they’re safe in the care of the school,” parent Stacy Langton told Fox News Digital. “And in this case, they absolutely were not safe, and I don’t know what parent wouldn’t be completely distraught at the idea that their daughters could be getting sexually battered while they’re changing classes.”

Fairfax County Public Schools released a statement last week saying that it prioritizes the safety of students and staff.

“While Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is unable to comment on specifics due to federal and state privacy laws, we prioritize student and staff safety and we fully investigate any time someone shares that an incident has occurred at school, or that they do not feel safe at school,” the district said at the time. “We are grateful to our law enforcement partners who continue to work swiftly and thoroughly when there are safety concerns in our schools. The safety of all FCPS students and staff remains a top priority.”

As the search for Nancy Guthrie stretches past 50 days with no answers, one woman who has spent more than two decades searching for her own missing sister says this is the moment families fear most – when urgency begins to fade and the fight for answers becomes even harder.

Julie Murray, whose sister Maura Murray vanished in New Hampshire in 2004, said what the Guthrie family is experiencing right now is something she recognizes immediately.

“What they’re going through is something you never forget,” Murray said. “You can see it on their faces. You can hear the desperation in their voices.”

Murray said cases often begin with an intense surge of attention, resources, media coverage and public engagement, but that momentum can fade, leaving families to carry the burden.

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“Most families… have to fight to be heard and beg for that level of attention,” she said. “And some families don’t get any at all.”

That attention, she emphasized, can be lifesaving.

“Media pressure saves lives.”

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Nancy Guthrie, 84, was last seen Feb. 1 after being dropped off at her Tucson, Arizona home. Authorities believe she was taken against her will in the early morning hours.

Surveillance video captured a masked man, described as average height and build, approaching her home carrying a black backpack and what appeared to be a handgun. Investigators say Guthrie’s phone and watch were later recovered inside the home, while her pacemaker last synced with her Apple devices around 2:30 a.m., helping establish a possible timeline.

Despite weeks of investigation, authorities have not announced a suspect. Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos has said Guthrie was likely targeted.

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The case has drawn national attention, driven in part by emotional public appeals from Guthrie’s daughter, NBC “Today” anchor Savannah Guthrie.

“Someone needs to do the right thing. We are in agony,” Guthrie said in a preview of her first formal interview since her mother’s disappearance.

In the same interview, she described the toll the uncertainty has taken.

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“I wake up every night in the middle of the night… and in the darkness, I imagine her terror,” she said. “She needs to come home now.”

Authorities are urging anyone with information to contact the FBI tip line.

Murray said the level of attention surrounding the Guthrie case can generate a surge of tips, but not all are actionable.

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“You’re begging the public for information, but at the same time you’re getting speculation and hearsay,” she said. “Some of those tips you just can’t chase down.”

Her family, she said, still receives tips more than 20 years after her sister vanished, none of which have led to answers.

Each one, however, carries emotional weight.

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“I call it the hope roller coaster,” Murray said. “You want it to be the one that breaks the case open… and then it doesn’t.”

Retired LAPD Detective Moses Castillo said that emotional toll is already visible in the Guthrie family’s public appeals.

“You can feel every ounce of her pain, her strength, and her desperation,” Castillo said. “That kind of resolve matters. It moves people. It forces attention.”

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He described Savannah Guthrie’s interview as “a call to action” that could help generate new leads.

Murray warned that one of the most difficult turning points in a case comes when investigators exhaust immediate leads.

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For Murray’s family, that moment came just weeks after Maura disappeared.

“The worst day wasn’t the day she went missing,” she said. “It was the day we were told they had done all they could.”

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From that point forward, she said, the responsibility shifted to the family to keep pushing for answers—through media coverage, public pressure and independent efforts.

“You can’t let up on the pressure,” she said.

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Investigators have said the Guthrie case remains active, but have also warned the public not to assume there is no ongoing threat.

Families also face growing challenges as cases gain visibility, including online speculation and bad actors.

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“Trust becomes a casualty,” Murray said, warning that some individuals attempt to exploit high-profile cases or spread misinformation.

More than two decades later, Murray said her family has come to terms with the likelihood that her sister is no longer alive—but they are still searching for answers.

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“There’s no such thing as closure,” she said. “It’s resolution.”

For families like the Guthries, that means continuing to push for answers, while hoping the right tip finally comes in.

Authorities are asking anyone with information about Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance to contact the FBI tip line at 1-800-CALL-FBI. A combined reward of more than $1 million is being offered for information leading to her return.

Fox News Digital’s Brian Flood, Hanna Panreck and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.