RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesA senior Iranian source said Sunday that Tehran would halt its own attacks as long as Washington maintains its own pause on strikes, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed the war would continue until Iran's regime falls or is forced to give up on its nuclear program.
Speaking to Reuters, the Iranian source said Tehran remains skeptical of US intentions, even as the US held its fire on Iran for the second consecutive night, after 13 straight nights of strikes around the Strait of Hormuz, the largest rekindling of the conflict since an April ceasefire.
"Iran’s position remains ‘attack for attack’: If the attacks stop, Iran will also halt its operations. That message has already been conveyed to the United States," the source said. "There is more skepticism than optimism about the halt in attacks. The prevailing view is that the pause is tactical rather than genuine."
The lull in US attacks on Iran reportedly followed the advice of Brad Cooper, the US military's Central Command chief, that the Hormuz bombings had largely reached the limit of their effectiveness and that the US should halt them unless it is prepared to broaden the conflict.
Meanwhile, US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told "Fox News Sunday" that the US remained "locked and loaded" for more attacks on Iran and that "more assets have gone into the region," but that US President Donald Trump was giving "some space" for peace talks.
"He’s giving it a little bit of room,” Waltz said.
Also on Fox News, Netanyahu said Iran's nuclear program must come to an end "with a deal or without a deal," and threatened to hit back hard if Iran or its proxies attack Israel.
The conflict with Iran will end either when the regime falls or when it "realize[s] that the cost of wreaking economic chaos through the world, murdering thousands of its own citizens, and shooting at everyone… when this regime is either toppled or it is sufficiently weakened that it knows it has to end its nuclear program," he said.
"If Iran or its proxies attack Israel," Netanyahu said, "it will make a terrible mistake, because our response, Israel's response, will be very, very forceful."
He said he would not focus on presenting new information in his planned meeting with Trump this week, because US and Israeli intelligence were working so closely.
"It's a good thing to have the opportunity to sit with our good friend President Trump and to hear what he has in mind," Netanyahu said of the future of the Iran conflict, "because I think in many ways it's his decision."
The US and Israel jointly launched a bombing campaign on Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize its regime and destroy its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
Iran responded with missile and drone strikes across the region and by blockading the Strait of Hormuz, which previously carried about a fifth of the world's commercial oil shipments.
The fighting entered a truce on April 8, and the US and Iran last month reached a memorandum of understanding for peace talks. Israel was not a party to the agreement or the talks. The US has since attacked Iran in response to the Islamic Republic's continued attacks on Hormuz shipping.
Citing two sources familiar with Cooper's assessment, Axios reported Sunday that ahead of Trump's meeting with top advisers on Friday, the CENTCOM chief told the Pentagon, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the White House that the designated US targets in Hormuz were mostly exhausted.
Cooper reportedly said that the US campaign had significantly degraded Iran's ability to attack ships in the Strait.
According to the sources cited in the report, Cooper raised the possibility of resuming major combat operations against a remaining 20 percent of bombing targets that the US had designated but not struck.
Barring that, according to Cooper, there was no point in continuing the campaign in Hormuz, Axios reported.
Ultimately, Trump decided at the Friday meeting against expanding the war with Iran.
Separate reports by The New York Times and CNN said US Vice President JD Vance and Gen. Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, both raised concern that an escalation with Iran could further deplete US defense stockpiles, alienate Gulf allies, and negatively affect the global economy.
Trump's envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff were also negotiating with Iran both directly and through mediators, according to Axios and Channel 12 reporter Barak Ravid.
For now, the sides have reached an informal understanding of "quiet for quiet," meaning neither side will fire as long as the current calm holds, Ravid reported.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
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