On Friday, regional mediators rushed once again to try to bring the US and Iran back to the negotiation table from the brink of renewed war; the two countries had taken turns to launch attacks a few days earlier, and the situation temporarily entered a fragile cease-fire state. Two officials who did not wish to be named and are familiar with the sensitive diplomatic process revealed that Qatar, which brokered a temporary truce between the US and Iran last month, is holding separate discussions with the US and Iran to help cool down the crisis. In recent days, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, and many other Middle Eastern countries with US military bases all said they had been attacked by Iran. This round of successive attacks has almost completely destroyed the previous truce agreement. The conflict pattern has already solidified: Iran is accused of attacking merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz, then the US side launched a retaliatory attack, Iran then fought back, and eventually fell back into a precarious standoff. Even though the fighting seemed to ease somewhat on Friday, it is still unknown whether this round of mediation can break this cycle. The two sides are in an extremely risky game of will, with the intention of proving that they can withstand each other's attacks and fight back harshly, while deliberately preventing the conflict from completely escalating into an all-out war.

On Friday, regional mediators rushed once again to try to bring the US and Iran back to the negotiation table from the brink of renewed war; the two countries had taken turns to launch attacks a few days earlier, and the situation temporarily entered a fragile cease-fire state. Two officials who did not wish to be named and are familiar with the sensitive diplomatic process revealed that Qatar, which brokered a temporary truce between the US and Iran last month, is holding separate discussions with the US and Iran to help cool down the crisis. In recent days, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, and many other Middle Eastern countries with US military bases all said they had been attacked by Iran. This round of successive attacks has almost completely destroyed the previous truce agreement. The conflict pattern has already solidified: Iran is accused of attacking merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz, then the US side launched a retaliatory attack, Iran then fought back, and eventually fell back into a precarious standoff. Even though the fighting seemed to ease somewhat on Friday, it is still unknown whether this round of mediation can break this cycle. The two sides are in an extremely risky game of will, with the intention of proving that they can withstand each other's attacks and fight back harshly, while deliberately preventing the conflict from completely escalating into an all-out war.