The terrorist group Hamas once again refused to agree to a ceasefire proposed by the U.S. over the weekend. Experts say the group’s strategy appears to be mimicking that of Iran, which is to feign interest in peace proposals but perpetually reject them in order to buy time to regroup militarily as Israeli forces continue their campaign to oust Hamas from Gaza.

The latest proposal made by U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and agreed to by Israel called for a 60-day ceasefire and a prisoner swap, including up to 10 living Israeli hostages and 18 bodies. But in a statement Saturday, Witkoff remarked that Hamas’s response to the proposal was “totally unacceptable” and “only takes us backward.”

John Bolton, former national security adviser during President Trump’s first term, joined “This Week on Capitol Hill” over the weekend to discuss the situation.

“[The ceasefire deal is] hung up on the same basic problem that has made it complicated to get any hostage release,” he explained. “What Hamas really wants is an end to the Israeli effort to destroy them militarily and politically. Israel has been willing to agree to time-limited ceasefires in exchange for hostages. You can debate the wisdom of that. It used to be U.S. policy never to negotiate with terrorists to exchange hostages. Israel has repeatedly done it throughout its history. But the main point is that Israel is obviously unwilling to give up its objective of destroying Hamas as a political and military force. So I think even if there is an agreement by Hamas … it’s not really going to materially change the situation on the ground.”

Bolton went on to advise the U.S. against further engagement with the current ceasefire framework.

“[W]hat Hamas is really trying to do here is buy more time and hope that this international pressure on Israel pushes Israel back away from its stated objectives,” he contended. “I think Israel is trying to accommodate President Trump because it needs American help on a variety of fronts well beyond Gaza … with the entire ring of fire strategy that Iran has been pursuing for decades now. But I think Israel can live with a ceasefire if it is time-limited, and if in fact the hostages — many of whom, let’s face it, are going to be the remains of hostages because they’ve died — if in fact Hamas turns them over.”

The stalled ceasefire deal comes as a new report has revealed that Iran, which is the chief financial backer of Hamas, has amassed enough enriched uranium to produce approximately 10 nuclear warheads. At the same time, Iran once again announced Monday that it will reject the latest U.S. proposal for a nuclear deal aimed at halting the Islamist regime’s weapons program, which has now had five rounds of talks with the Trump administration with no agreed upon deal.

“[W]hat Iran really wants, much like Hamas, it wants to buy time,” Bolton argued. “It’s suffered a terrible beating over the past year and a half, roughly since the October 7th attack by Hamas on Israel. It’s lost its ally [Bashar al-]Assad in Syria. Its terrorist proxies have been hurt badly, although not yet destroyed. Every day that goes by benefits the would-be proliferator. In this case, Iran is trying to conceal and shield its nuclear activities. So these negotiations may be the way to give them an ultimatum, but they shouldn’t drag out much longer.”

Elliott Abrams, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, concurred in a National Review column Monday. “Iran will play out the clock, hoping for the administration to be weakened by a defeat in the 2026 congressional elections and then gone after the 2028 elections,” he wrote.

Bolton, who formerly served as ambassador to the United Nations, further insisted that the Trump administration must give Iran an ultimatum in order for Israel to be protected.

“I think every day that goes by leaves Israel in jeopardy. Now, if what the Trump administration is trying to do here is present an ultimatum to Iran that they will seriously back Israel if military action is needed — I wouldn’t necessarily do it this way, but I understand and would support that objective. And that gives the Trump administration later the ability to argue, ‘We gave Iran a last chance, and they simply wouldn’t take it up. And we couldn’t wait. We couldn’t allow Israel to wait any longer.’ But I think Israel feels the time pressure because they’re the ones facing the existential threat. Iran has launched two ballistic missile attacks against Israel in the past year, and Jerusalem can never be sure if the next ballistic missile contains a nuclear warhead.”

Abrams went on to maintain that it is time for the Trump administration to give Tehran an ultimatum. “Trump should stick to his guns, or, in this case, his F-35s: Tell Iran it cannot maintain a nuclear weapons program that puts it weeks or months away from a bomb. The program must end, once and for all, or it will be destroyed.”

Bolton agreed. “I’d like to see this program eliminated. I think many Americans do. I think it’s certainly what [Israeli] Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu wants to do. President Trump has given Iran, I think, as close to the two months as he possibly can. That’s what he said in his first letter to the Ayatollah Khomeini. We’re very close to the point where we’re going to have to make a decision here, and so are the Israelis.”