WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The stop-start appears to have entered a new phase as Saudi Arabia publicly joins military escalations against Tehran-backed proxies. At the same time, an already to end the war has faltered once again as mistrust deepens between the longtime adversaries.
Despite several days of , both sides carried out military strikes in the last 24 hours that once again risk a return to all-out war 鈥� and further expansion in the region 鈥� while , 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鈥檚 deputy foreign minister said Tuesday that his country has made no requests to restart the diplomatic track in more than two weeks.
Following an , Trump turned back to threats Wednesday even while raising the prospect of continued talks.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e already apologized, but, you know, we got to smack them a little bit,鈥� he told reporters in the Oval Office. He added, 鈥淚t鈥檚 our turn, and we鈥檒l see if we get there with an agreement at some point. But we鈥檙e going to hit them very hard.鈥�
It reflects a deja-vu as the Republican president has vacillated for the past several months between insisting a deal was near to end the war and Tehran’s nuclear program and using vulgarities and to U.S. demands 鈥� to no avail.
The stakes for continued U.S. military action have never been higher for Trump and his party as the conflict, has just months before critical midterm elections in November. The renewed fighting also has killed and and been complicated by concerns that the U.S. stockpiles of key air defense systems needed to defend its bases and allies.
As Saudis enter the conflict, Israel takes a step back
In the past day, Iran said it fired ballistic missiles at Jordan鈥檚 Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, a key U.S. military hub for the region, which Trump said were intercepted. And Saudi Arabia joined the U.S. in striking multiple logistics and weapons sites used by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.
The first publicly announced joint U.S.-Saudi strikes followed drone attacks on the kingdom, complicating a conflict that now includes nearly every country in the region. A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail sensitive military operations, said the two attacks were not connected.
Drone strikes also ignited fires on two natural gas vessels at a port in Egypt, a close U.S. ally and regional mediator that is one of the only countries in the Middle East to have been spared from direct military action during the war. A strike by Iran or its allies, if confirmed, would mark a significant widening of the conflict.
The U.S.-Saudi strikes came hours after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu departed his first meeting with Trump since they launched the war against Iran on Feb. 28.
An Israeli official briefed on the meeting Tuesday at the White House said Netanyahu assured Trump that it is the U.S., not Israel, that is in the driver’s seat with Iran, attempting to push back on the notion that he鈥檚 increasingly out of step with his closest ally on the way ahead.
Yet, Israeli officials also have privately expressed concern that Trump, with midterm elections looming, is trying to 鈥渒eep this war on a low flame,鈥� according to a person familiar with Netanyahu’s government鈥檚 internal deliberations. The person and the Israeli official were not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The person added that Israeli officials have become increasingly concerned about Trump鈥檚 sensitivity to surging oil prices as remains effectively closed to global energy shipments and about the growing trepidation among some in the U.S. administration about the burn rate of critical missile interceptors.
The recent fighting with Iran used up more of the U.S. military鈥檚 already diminished stockpiles of and , potentially putting American troops at more risk if hostilities resume, according to an analysis released this week from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has told Trump that the state of the munitions stockpile could have an impact on military operations in Iran, according to another U.S. official. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive conversations, said the message was delivered as part of Caine鈥檚 regular duties of providing military advice and options to Trump.
A history of failed diplomacy plagues US-Iran prospects
The Trump administration does not seem to have a strategy to resume negotiations with Iran over ending the conflict.
Despite efforts by some mediators to get talks restarted 鈥� or at least find a point at which they could begin again 鈥� the administration is not actively pursuing talks at the moment, a senior U.S. official said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the latest developments in the region suggested that any resumption in direct diplomacy was not imminent.
Analysts called the uncertainty and lack of strategy a result of deep, growing mistrust between Washington and Tehran, especially after an signed in mid-June collapsed in recent weeks.
Ali Vaez, Iran project director at the International Crisis Group, said senior Iranian officials were nearly unanimous in their decision to approve that memorandum of understanding with the U.S.
鈥淏ut now none of them believe that Trump is a reliable negotiating partner,鈥� he said. “The problem, I think, is that Trump also has now the same impression about the Iranians.”
In some respects, the on-again, off-again nature of talks and back-and-forth military attacks should not be surprising.
The history of U.S. negotiations with Iran after 1979 is littered with failure, false starts and stops, and military actions that have nonetheless stopped short of the kind of conflict the two countries are now in.
Despite its flaws, the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran secured by the Obama administration was the first major agreement between the two countries since the Algiers Accords in 1981 that ended the American hostage crisis and laid a patchwork path for the resolution of other issues, including the unfreezing of Shah-era Iranian assets seized by the U.S. after the Islamic Revolution.
However, even from the beginning, both sides accused each other of violating the terms of these deals.
Accusations of violations of the Algiers Accords, which led to a period of great animosity, including U.S. support for Saddam Hussein鈥檚 Iraq during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, became the norm.
Despite the semi-rapprochement around the 2015 nuclear deal, Trump鈥檚 withdrawal from it in 2018 during his first term, his imposition of a 鈥渕aximum pressure鈥� sanctions campaign against Tehran, and the U.S. assassination of Iran鈥檚 top military leader Qassem Soleimani in early 2020, sent the relationship to new lows.
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Amiri reported from New York. Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.
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