Amid conflicting statements about possible US-Iran ceasefire talks, the conflict intensified on Tuesday, with strikes hitting power facilities in Isfahan and Khorramshahr as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted sites in Eilat, Dimona and north Tel Aviv using multi-warhead missiles and suicide drones.
The mixed signals underscored how far diplomacy remains from halting a war now in its 25th day. Even as President Donald Trump pushed the idea of a deal, both sides kept raising the stakes on the battlefield, deepening energy supply disruptions, lifting prices worldwide and stoking fears of a fresh inflation wave.
Possible negotiations
After remarks by Trump on Monday about “constructive talks” that could soon lead to an agreement, and Iran’s categorical denial of any direct contact, Reuters cited three senior Israeli officials as saying Trump remains determined to reach an agreement with Iran to halt military operations.
But the officials, whose names Reuters did not disclose, said Tehran was unlikely to accept US demands in any new round of negotiations. They said Washington was still seeking restrictions on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, the same conditions it had insisted on before the talks collapsed on Feb. 28 with the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Reuters also quoted a Pakistani official and another unidentified source as saying direct talks to end the war could be held in Pakistan this week. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tahir Andrabi said Pakistan is “always ready to host talks” provided the parties are willing. Hours later on Tuesday, Pakistan’s prime minister said he was willing to host talks between the US and Iran to end the war.
The Pakistani official also told Reuters that US Vice President JD Vance, Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to meet Iranian officials in Islamabad this week, citing a call between Trump and Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir, that the White House has confirmed. The Times of London reported that Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has already headed to Pakistan.
Iran, however, publicly rejected the suggestion that talks were underway. Iranian parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf mocked reports that he was holding talks with Trump, calling them an attempt to manipulate financial markets, and said Tehran had held no talks with the US.
He said on X: “No negotiations have been held with the US, and fake news is used to manipulate the financial and oil markets and escape the quagmire in which the US and Israel are trapped.”
Bombing power stations
On Monday, Trump said the US and Iran had held “very good and productive” talks on a “complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East,” and announced a five-day delay in carrying out his threat to bomb Iran’s power grid.
But hours after Trump’s comments, the US and Israel targeted power stations in the city of Isfahan and the gas plant in Khorramshahr.
Iran’s Fars news agency said on Tuesday that “the American enemy targeted the gas administration building and the gas pressure reduction station on Kaveh Street in Isfahan, while simultaneous reports were received of a strike on the gas pipeline of the Khorramshahr plant.”
According to Fars, the attack on gas facilities in Isfahan damaged parts of those facilities and nearby homes. It said the absence of a massive explosion was due to “passive defense” measures, noting that the station had already been taken out of service in line with safety requirements before the attack.
In Khorramshahr, Fars said the gas pipeline serving the power plant had been targeted. The acting governor of Khorramshahr said a projectile landed outside the gas line station and that no casualties were reported.
“A different page in the history of the war”
In response, the IRGC said Tuesday that the 78th wave of Operation True Promise 4 targeted sites in Eilat, Dimona and north Tel Aviv, as well as some US military bases in the region, using precision-guided Emad and Qadr multi-warhead missiles and suicide drones.
The IRGC said the attack had “written a different page in the history of the war,” adding that Tehran “is negotiating with the aggressors through missiles and firepower, from a position of strength and battlefield influence.” It also said the bulk of the IRGC’s combat units, along with the Basij popular mobilization forces, had not yet entered the battle.
It said the entry of those forces, if necessary, would make the battlefield “more intense” and turn it into an “inescapable hell” for its enemies.
The war has now entered its 25th day with no sign of a breakthrough, prolonging energy supply disruptions, pushing prices higher worldwide and increasing fears of a fresh inflation wave.
