### Iran Signals Openness to Conflict Resolution After Intensified Airstrikes
In the wake of a new wave of heavy airstrikes across Iranian territory, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian announced Tuesday that Tehran holds the “necessary will” to bring the ongoing war with the United States and Israel to a close, but only with ironclad international guarantees that future aggression will not be repeated.
Pezeshkian made the remarks during a phone conversation with the president of the European Council, marking the clearest signal yet of Iran’s negotiating position after weeks of open conflict that began when US and Israeli leadership launched a surprise offensive on February 28 that killed Iran’s long-time supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Iranian leader’s death triggered sweeping retaliatory attacks across the Middle East that have drawn in regional armed groups and disrupted global energy markets.
The Iranian president’s overture came amid rapidly shifting rhetoric from Washington, where US President Donald Trump has flip-flopped between threatening major escalation including the deployment of ground troops and pushing for a negotiated end to the conflict. In response to a 15-point US peace proposal released last week, Tehran submitted a counteroffer centered on establishing a formal verification mechanism to ensure neither the US nor Israel will resume hostilities after any ceasefire is signed.
Even as diplomatic murmurings emerged, military pressure continued to ramp up across the region. On Tuesday, fresh airstrikes hit key locations including central Iran’s Isfahan and the capital Tehran, where AFP correspondents on the ground heard large explosions and confirmed Iranian air defense systems were activated. State media reports indicate damage to a Shia religious site in Zanjan, while the Iranian government claimed strikes hit a facility producing cancer medications and anesthetics—claims AFP has not been able to independently verify. For residents of Tehran, daily life hangs in a fragile balance between routine and the constant threat of violence. “When I make it to a cafe table, even for a few minutes, I can almost believe the world hasn’t ended,” 27-year-old dental assistant Fatemeh told AFP via encrypted messaging. “And then I go back home, back to the reality of living through war, with all its darkness and weight.”
Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) issued a stark new threat earlier this week, announcing that from Wednesday it will target leading US technology firms including Google, Meta, Apple, Intel, Tesla, and data analytics company Palantir in retaliation for any future targeted assassinations of Iranian leadership. The IRGC accused the 18 named companies of complicity in previous killings of Iranian officials, warning that “the destruction of their relevant units” will follow every assassination carried out on Iranian soil.
Top US military leadership doubled down on threats of escalation Tuesday. Speaking after a tour of US troops deployed to the Middle East, Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth claimed “the upcoming days will be decisive. Iran knows that, and there’s almost nothing they can militarily do about it.” Hegseth refused to rule out deploying ground troops, noting that “you can’t fight and win a war if you tell your adversary what you are willing to do, or what you are not willing to do, to include boots on the ground.” A day earlier, Trump issued an ultimatum: if Tehran rejected a US-led peace deal, American forces would “obliterate” all of Iran’s oil infrastructure, including its critical Kharg Island export terminal, as well as the country’s water desalination plants.
### Regional Spillover and Global Economic Disruption
The conflict has already spilled across Iran’s borders, with Iran-aligned groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthi movement in Yemen joining the fight against the US and Israel. On Tuesday, explosions were reported in Dubai, while two people were injured near Riyadh, Saudi Arabia after air defense systems intercepted an incoming drone. Kuwait’s state oil company confirmed one of its tankers caught fire off the coast of Dubai following what it called a “direct and malicious Iranian attack.”
Iran has maintained a full chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which roughly one-fifth of global oil supplies pass, sending energy prices soaring across the world. Average US retail gasoline prices have now jumped past $4 per gallon, hitting the highest level in nearly four years. Indonesia has implemented formal fuel rationing, while the European Union has urged member states to cut domestic fuel consumption to ease market pressure. “It is clear that the more you can do to save oil, especially diesel, especially jet fuel, the better we are off,” EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen told reporters in Brussels.
Trump has lashed out at NATO allies and other global partners that have refused to commit military resources to secure the Strait of Hormuz for global shipping. In a post on his Truth Social platform Tuesday, the US president warned that Washington would no longer guarantee global energy security through the waterway. “The U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” he wrote. “Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!”
### Frontlines in Lebanon Remain Volatile
On the Lebanese front, Israeli military operations against Hezbollah have continued unabated, even as international attention focuses on talks to end the broader regional war. Israel is currently mourning the deaths of four soldiers killed in southern Lebanon, and Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced Tuesday that Israeli forces will retain occupation of a large swathe of southern Lebanon even after a ceasefire agreement is reached. Katz also vowed that “all the houses in the villages adjacent to the border in Lebanon will be demolished.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney condemned Israel’s troop deployment in Lebanon as an “illegal invasion.” According to Lebanese official data, more than 1,200 Lebanese people have been killed in Israeli attacks, and more than one million have been displaced from their homes. Around 1,000 displaced people are currently sheltering in Beirut’s largest sports stadium, including roughly 50 people with disabilities that limit their mobility. “If there’s a strike, the people around me could run away and leave me behind,” said 62-year-old Fatima Nazli, a wheelchair user sheltering at the stadium. “I can’t get up and move if no one helps me.”
Pezehkian’s diplomatic overture sent an immediate positive shock through US financial markets, which rose sharply following news of the statement, as investors bet on a possible de-escalation of the conflict that has roiled global energy supplies.
