The stop-start fighting between the United States and Iran appears to have entered a new phase as Saudi Arabia publicly joined military escalations against Tehran-backed proxies. At the same time, an already untenable diplomatic effort to end the war has faltered once again as mistrust deepens between the long-time adversaries.
Despite several days of relative calm, both sides carried out military strikes in the last 24 hours that once again risk a return to all-out war — and further expansion in the region — while little is clear about what strategy, if any, American or Iranian officials have for a path forward.
While President Donald Trump and his allies have spent recent days arguing that Iran is begging to return to the negotiating table, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister said on Tuesday that his country has made no requests to restart the diplomatic track in more than two weeks.
Following a thwarted attack on the U.S. base in Jordan, Mr. Trump turned back to threats on Wednesday (July 29, 2026) even while sustaining the prospect of continued talks.
“They’ve already apologised, but, you know, we got to smack them a little bit,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. He added: “It’s our turn, and we’ll see if we get there with an agreement at some point. But we’re going to hit them very hard.”
Hours later, the strikes followed as the U.S. military said it launched “a powerful response to yesterday’s attempted Iranian attacks on U.S. forces based in the Middle East [West Asia]” in a social media post. It did not immediately disclose the targets of the attack. - AP
