{"id":223465,"date":"2026-07-26T13:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-26T13:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/223465\/"},"modified":"2026-07-26T13:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-26T13:33:11","slug":"airstrikes-have-paused-and-talks-are-pressing-forward-but-can-the-u-s-and-iran-take-the-off-ramp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/223465\/","title":{"rendered":"Airstrikes have paused and talks are pressing forward. But can the U.S. and Iran take the off-ramp?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The U.S. military has paused its\u00a0airstrikes on Iran<\/a>\u00a0after nearly two weeks of intensifying bombing, while\u00a0diplomatic efforts<\/a>\u00a0have pushed forward to try to avert a return to all-out war.<\/p>\n

But it remains to be seen whether the U.S. and Iran are at an inflection point in\u00a0a mercurial conflict<\/a>\u00a0that will reach the five-month point Tuesday. President Donald Trump both has\u00a0threatened more strikes<\/a>\u00a0and said talks are pressing on, all while brushing off concerns that\u00a0rising gas prices<\/a>\u00a0tied to the fighting could hurt Republicans in November\u2019s midterm elections.<\/p>\n

Adding to the uncertainty<\/a>\u00a0is the impact of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s planned visit with Trump next week in Washington. Israel, which launched the war alongside the U.S. on Feb. 28, has been notably absent from the renewed American attacks over Iran\u2019s\u00a0effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, a vital shipping corridor through which 20% of the world\u2019s oil normally flows.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Iranians understand that perhaps it could get worse because Israel could come into the conflict,\u201d said Michael Singh, managing director at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. On the other hand, Israel\u2019s lack of involvement so far \u201cmay signal to the Iranians that we\u2019re looking to limit the conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

Singh, who was senior Middle East director on the National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration, said he was hesitant to read too much into the lull in fighting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIf it turns into a multiday pause, that\u2019ll be something significant,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s hard to know. Is it an operational pause? Is it a pause to allow for some kind of behind-the-scenes diplomacy?\u201d<\/p>\n

A regional official involved in the mediation efforts said that concerted diplomacy was underway and that a pause in U.S. strikes and Iranian counterstrikes on neighboring countries hosting American forces was a \u201cpositive signal that helps their efforts to de-escalate.\u201d<\/p>\n

The official said that both the U.S. and Iran want to return to\u00a0the interim ceasefire deal<\/a>\u00a0and that a compromise, which is being negotiated now, centers around having Iran run vessel transit through the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz<\/a>\u00a0with fewer restrictions on ships. The official was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, confirmed that Iran and Oman had held several rounds of technical talks about the strait in Iran over the weekend. He said that while the Omani delegation left Tehran on Saturday afternoon, talks had made progress and were continuing.<\/p>\n

Iran put a chokehold on the narrow Persian Gulf waterway when the war began by firing on tankers and freighters. In turn,\u00a0oil prices have soared<\/a>\u00a0during the conflict, which has been\u00a0unpopular with many Americans<\/a>, and could leave some Republican lawmakers vulnerable in November.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Following the signing of an\u00a0interim ceasefire deal<\/a>\u00a0in June, a battle for control over the strait has erupted. Iran demanded that ships use a route near its coastline and said it can\u00a0potentially charge fees<\/a>. Ships were increasingly navigating a southern route along the coast of Oman under a U.S. overwatch operation when Iran attacked some vessels.<\/p>\n

The U.S. renewed attacks on Iran\u2019s coastal defenses, aiming to blunt Tehran\u2019s ability to strike ships in the strait. The Trump administration then expanded its targets, hitting\u00a0bridges and infrastructure<\/a>\u00a0in the south and striking deeper into the center of Iran.<\/p>\n

Singh said the strikes appear to be an attempt to push Iran back to the negotiating table. Now, he said, \u201cthe question would be: What kind of messages, if any, is the Iranian regime sending through diplomatic channels? Have those messages changed? Do they seem more eager to return to talks?\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the challenges the U.S. faces is the fractured leadership in Iran, with different factions vying for control, Singh said, something that Trump administration officials have also pointed to. The people in charge in Iran may worry that compromising with the U.S. will be seen as weakness and could loosen their grip on power.<\/p>\n

Whatever the case, both the U.S. and Iran need the strait to reopen for their own economic reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they have very different conceptions of under what conditions, under whose control,\u201d Singh said. \u201cSo we have to get to some kind of stable equilibrium on those questions before you\u2019re going to see a longer period of quiet. I think this effort to negotiate with words and also to negotiate with force is going to continue until we reach that equilibrium.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Republished with permission of The Associated Press.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The U.S. military has paused its\u00a0airstrikes on Iran\u00a0after nearly two weeks of intensifying bombing, while\u00a0diplomatic efforts\u00a0have pushed forward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":223466,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[980,41,1215,22244,38,6433,376,1683,64042,34,42585,4038,49388,101,64043],"class_list":["post-223465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-iran","tag-airstrikes","tag-benjamin-netanyahu","tag-bombing","tag-diplomatic-efforts","tag-donald-trump","tag-esmail-baghaei","tag-gas-prices","tag-george-w-bush","tag-interim-ceasefire","tag-iran","tag-irans-foreign-ministry","tag-israeli-prime-minister","tag-michael-singh","tag-strait-of-hormuz","tag-washington-institute-for-near-east-policy"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116986537940450608","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=223465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/223465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/223466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=223465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=223465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}