Iranians received an unexpected message from the authorities this Saturday: conserve electricity and gas at home. The recommendation may seem minor, but it is profoundly symbolic in a country that has the second-largest gas reserves in the world and the fourth-largest oil reserves. The American military offensive against Iran enters its second week, and the military escalation does not seem to be stopping. Even less so after two American soldiers were killed this Saturday in an Iranian attack with drones and ballistic missiles against a United States base in Jordan, according to a statement from the U.S. Army's Central Command. There is a third soldier missing and four more have been injured.

The explosions continue to set the pace in southern Lebanon while in the negotiation rooms, attempts are being made to shape the future of the border. In Washington, they are talking about taking steps towards the first "pilot zones" foreseen in the framework agreement between Lebanon and Israel. But just a few kilometers from the demarcation line, the reality is very different: the Israeli army maintains its positions and continues operations against what it considers Hezbollah infrastructure, and the border towns are still waiting for a withdrawal for which no date has been set.

The escalation between the United States and Iran enters a new phase. Attacks continue on Iranian territory while Tehran maintains its response against targets linked to Washington in various Gulf countries. The most significant change in this new stage is not occurring in the Strait of Hormuz, but in the region's capitals, where governments that for years tried to maintain a prudent distance from the rivalry between Washington and Tehran now face a difficult choice.

The bombings between the United States and Iran continued this Monday for the fifth consecutive day, in an escalation that could lead to a regional confrontation. Washington has launched a new wave of attacks against Iranian military infrastructure, while Tehran hardens its rhetoric and warns Gulf countries that providing logistical support to American forces will be considered an act of war.

The sirens have sounded again this Sunday in several Gulf countries as the United States and Iran have taken a new step in an escalation that threatens to squander the fragile memorandum of understanding signed just a few weeks ago between Washington and Tehran. After a third wave of American bombings against more than 140 Iranian military targets in recent hours, Tehran has responded with a coordinated offensive against American military installations in the Gulf. It has attacked with missiles and drones in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Jordan, and has announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the artery through which around 20% of the oil and liquefied natural gas traded in the world passes.

While the United States and Iran exchange attacks and threats, Qatari mediators are keeping talks open in Tehran. Barely 48 hours after Donald Trump declared the memorandum of understanding "dead" and ordered new air strikes against Iranian infrastructureIranian infrastructure, the diplomatic channel remains open. In a post on Truth Social, the President of the United States has reflected the instability of the truce: "The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue the talks. We have agreed, but the United States has clearly told them that the ceasefire is OVER!".

For the second consecutive day, missiles have replaced diplomacy in the Middle East. Just two weeks after signing the memorandum of understanding that allowed a pause in fighting and opened the door to new negotiations between the United States and Iran, the attacks have intensified again. During Wednesday night and Thursday morning, Washington has once again bombed Iranian territory. The US military has stated that since Wednesday dawn it has struck nearly 170 military targets in the country, including air defense systems, coastal surveillance facilities, and missile and drone depots. According to the Iranian Ministry of Health, US attacks in the last two days have left at least 14 dead and 78 injured in five provinces of the country.

A week ago in Washington there were smiles, handshakes and an agreement presented as the beginning of the end of the war between Israel and Lebanon. However, the situation on the ground has barely changed. Israeli soldiers remain deployed in parts of southern Lebanon and thousands of residents are still displaced, waiting to return to their war-torn villages. The document, presented by the United States as the first step to stabilize the border and restore the authority of the Lebanese state, leaves the most important question unanswered: when will the Israeli occupation really end?

Before the sun beat down strongly on Tehran, thousands of people already occupied the surroundings of the Mosalla mosque. They wore black, held up portraits of the supreme leader and Iranian flags, and advanced in a slow choreography that turned the space into a state-sponsored stage. The authorities have prepared one of the largest funeral arrangements in the country's recent history, with official estimates speaking of between 15 and 30 million participants over the six days of ceremonies. In addition to Tehran, celebrations will extend to several key cities in the country and the Shiite space, and he will finally be buried at the shrine of Imam Reza, in Mashhad, the man who for 36 years concentrated the highest authority of the Islamic Republic, until he was killed on the first day of the joint attack by Israel and the United States, on February 28.

From the entrance of the Al Hamidiyyah souk, the commercial heart of Damascus, the explosion sounded like the echo of another era. The windows of some shops had trembled and, for a few seconds, no one knew what had happened. Then the sirens arrived. Ambulances and security vehicles tried to make their way through the traffic of a city that, in the middle of rush hour, was full of families strolling, tourists exploring the historic center, and residents seeking refuge from the heat in the city center cafes.

While Washington on Tuesday fueled expectations of a new diplomatic breakthrough with Iran, Doha strove to lower the tone. "It could be an important meeting. We will know later," stated the President of the United States, Donald Trump, before assuring that the United States is making "very good progress" in its efforts to dismantle Iran's nuclear program. Hours later, Tehran specified that there are no direct negotiations with Washington and that any contact is being conducted through Qatar's mediation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not deny the movements or the continuity of contacts, but insisted that there are no direct talks between both parties.

The fisherman mends the nets in the Phoenician port of Tyre while children jump into the water from the pier. A few meters away, the terraces reopen and some Lebanese visitors have returned to the beaches. At first glance, it seems that summer has returned to one of the oldest inhabited cities in the Mediterranean.

The memorandum of understanding with the United States has been presented in Tehran as a political victory. And this new position of strength is leading the Islamic Republic to rethink its regional relations and the system of alliances that has sustained its influence in the Middle East for the last four decades. "The enemy that launched the aggression failed in all its malicious objectives and the Islamic Republic achieved great victories," assured a few days ago the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Kazem Gharibabadi, summarizing the regime's interpretation of the agreement reached with Washington.

Just a few hours after the American bombings on the southern coast of Iran, Tehran responded. This Saturday, the Revolutionary Guard announced attacks against United States positions in the Gulf region and warned that any new aggression would provoke a "broader" response. At the same time, in Lebanon, the framework agreement signed the previous day in Washington between Beirut and Israel was already born under the noise of explosions and internal dissent.

Where for decades the commercial life of southern Lebanon was concentrated, today tons of concrete, twisted beams and gaping facades accumulate. The arches that survived the bombings rise over empty shops, broken shop windows and streets where it is difficult to recognize where one business began and the next ended. Several mosques and husseiniyas, the religious buildings of the Shiites, still show the wounds of the attacks. In some streets in the center, the silence is only broken by the noise of machinery removing rubble.

Iran announced this Saturday the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which occurs, according to the country's most important military command, due to "the clear violation by the United States of the first clause of the Memorandum of Understanding" and "in response to the continuous and persistent ceasefire violations by the Zionist regime in southern Lebanon". The agreement signed this week between Washington and Tehran establishes, textually, the "immediate and permanent cessation of military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon"establishes, textually, the "immediate and permanent cessation of military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon".

After hours of Israeli bombings this Friday over southern Lebanon and the Baalbek region, which left at least 47 dead and 97 injured, according to the Lebanese Ministry of Health, the United States announced that Israel and Hezbollah have accepted a new truce negotiated with the mediation of Qatar and Iran. However, even after the agreement came into effect, Israeli attacks continued to be registered around Nabatieh, while Hezbollah claimed to have begun to respect the cessation of hostilities from the moment the agreement with Tel Aviv was announced.

This Tuesday's statements from Tehran and Washington show that the battle to interpret the agreement between the United States and Iran has only just begun. While the official signing of the memorandum of understanding remains scheduled for next Friday in Geneva, the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchi, has increased pressure on Israel by stating that the end of the war in Lebanon constitutes an inseparable condition for the end of the conflict with Iran.

The memorandum that the United States and Iran have virtually signed and plan to formalize this Friday in Switzerland is presented as an attempt to extinguish several fires simultaneously in the Middle East. It is not a definitive treaty, but a framework of understanding that opens sixty days of negotiation and seeks, above all, to avoid a new regional escalation.

The United States and Iran have finally closed a deal that provides for the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and the cessation of military operations in the region. The first to announce the pact was Pakistan, which is acting as mediator, and then it was confirmed by the US President, Donald Trump, and the Iranian regime.