A two-week ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran establishes a crucial deadline for finalizing a deal with Tehran. It also raises concerns about the conflict's path if diplomacy fails before the expiration of the 60-day war powers limit.

The two-week ceasefire the United States agreed to with Iran on Tuesday not only sets a deadline to seal a deal with Tehran, but leaves just days before the expiration of the 60-day legal limit for waging war without congressional authorisation that is set out under America’s War Powers Resolution. This has left open the question of how the conflict will proceed if diplomacy fails and the legal clock runs out. “Almost all the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the...