Iran passed another night without US airstrikes on Sunday, as Washington paused a war nearing its fifth month and reports emerged that concerns over dwindling munitions were restraining plans for further escalation.
The lull has revived hopes of a return to negotiations after nearly two weeks of consecutive nightly US bombardments, although US media reported the pause could also reflect pressure on stockpiles of Patriot interceptors and other defensive weapons.
Fighting over the strategic Strait of Hormuz derailed diplomatic efforts between Washington and Tehran, but the conflict then expanded beyond the vital energy corridor to include attacks on US bases, regional shipping and the Gulf.
However, US operations against Iran were "on a hold,” CNN reported, quoting an unidentified Pentagon source, even as US President Donald Trump threatened a "much higher level" of strikes on Friday.
Plans to escalate the campaign have been shelved in part because of those shrinking supplies, The New York Times reported, citing two people briefed on the matter.
Trump said on Friday he had not decided whether to return to an all-out operation.
"We're talking to them right now. I think they're getting more and more serious," he told journalists.
Trump said Iran faced a choice between a deal and strikes at a "much higher level.”
Meanwhile, Iran accused Ukraine on Saturday of attacking one of its merchant vessels in the Caspian Sea, killing a sailor and wounding another, and warned it would not leave the incident unanswered.
The accusation came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv had carried out long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea against vessels involved in transporting military cargo involving Iran, underscoring the increasingly international dimensions of Russia's war in Ukraine.
Iran's foreign ministry said the attack on Saturday morning caused the ship "to explode, killing one sailor and injuring another,” according to the official IRNA news agency.
Tehran "has never intervened in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” it asserted.
On Saturday, Zelensky said on social media that armed forces had achieved "very strong results with long-range strikes in the Caspian Sea -- including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran, as well as a warship.”
Ukraine's intelligence services (SBU), for their part, reported on Telegram that drone attacks had been carried out against "cargo vessels under international sanctions that were used to transport military cargo between Iran and Russia.”
According to Iranian state television, the foreign ministry summoned the Ukrainian charge d'affaires in Tehran on Saturday to protest this "hostile and criminal act.”
And in a conversation with the European Union's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called for a "firm response" by the EU and the United Nations Security Council to this attack, IRNA added.
