In the ancient art of diplomacy, a postponement is never merely a rescheduling — it is a confession. This week, planned talks between Iran and the Gulf Arab states in Oman's capital Muscat were delayed, unraveling months of quiet preparation and dimming one of the region's rare windows of potential dialogue. The gap between what each side demands and what the other can offer has, for now, proven too vast to cross at the negotiating table. History reminds us that such pauses are not always endings, but they are always reckonings.