Trump’s Iran ‘talks’: a war, a pause – and a distraction... The US president claims progress in talks with Iran, but uncertainty persists. Meanwhile, Israel advances West Bank annexation under cover of a crisis

                                                                The Guardian view

A burnt-out home following a reported attack by Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank on 23 March. Photograph: Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP/Getty Images

It must be tough for Donald Trump: starting a war with Iran, but finding it terribly inconvenient to finish it before collecting a shiny prize from Benjamin Netanyahu or sharing a stage with China’s Xi Jinping. In war, as in peace, timing is everything. With the global economy teetering on fears of an uncontrolled escalation in attacks on electricity, oil and gas installations in the Gulf, Mr Trump revealed that he was having such “productive” conversations with Tehran that there would be a five-day pause in US strikes on “Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure”. The trouble is that Mr Trump’s talks may not exist. Tehran denies having them.

If real, they would be a welcome de-escalatory step. They are also an admission that Mr Trump’s threat risked consequences more damaging than its intended target. But it also means that after markets close on Friday, Mr Trump could return to “bombing our little hearts out”. It is as unsurprising as it is grotesque that the US president would speak so lightly of potentially killing hundreds of civilians. Neither is Mr Trump likely to have been telling the truth in claiming “major points of agreement” in talks with Iran, including commitments on nuclear weapons and the reopening of the strait of Hormuz.

But messages may have been passed, via Egypt’s foreign minister, between Iran and Mr Trump’s Middle East envoy. Sir Keir Starmer saying that he was “aware” of talks between Iran and the US only confirms that diplomatic engagement is under way, but its scope and substance remain unclear and contested. Uncertainty fragments attention in a moment of crisis. This is important because, quietly offstage, Israel is advancing measures in the West Bank that shift its occupation to annexation. Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to Britain, wrote in the Economist last week that Israel’s government aimed to “deal a deadly blow to Palestinian statehood under the cover of war”.

This is a serious charge, but it is not unmerited... READ MORE  https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/mar/23/the-guardian-view-on-trumps-iran-talks-a-war-a-pause-and-a-distraction

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