US-Iran: A Cautious Calm and a Negotiation Window

After 13 days of military confrontation, the US-Iranian conflict entered a second day of cautious calm, with air strikes halted and a narrow window opened for diplomacy. Washington confirmed it was giving negotiations a limited chance, while Tehran announced it had suspended its retaliatory attacks on regional countries, without retracting either side’s threats to return to escalation if political efforts faltered.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz announced that President Donald Trump was giving negotiations with Iran “some leeway” and allowing “a small margin,” but that the United States remained “on high alert” to carry out further strikes, adding that “additional military resources had been sent to the region.”

For its part, Iran announced it had suspended its retaliatory attacks on regional countries after the United States halted its strikes against it.

Iranian military spokesperson Mohammad Akbari Nia said that “the Americans stopped their attacks during the past two nights,” and “since our strategy is fundamentally based on reciprocity, we have also suspended our retaliatory operations.”