Iran’s Defense Ministry says the United States is now trying to find a “face-saving solution” to allow it to exit the warwhich began on February 28 with a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran.
“Today, our military power is dominant and the enemy is looking for a way to save face and escape from the mire of war in which they have found themselves.” the Iranian agency ISNA quoted the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense, AFP reported on Saturday.
His comments came as US emissaries Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner head to Islamabad to take part in talks to end the war. However, Iranian state media reports that direct negotiations between the American and Iranian delegations are not yet on the agenda.
Islamabad has been waiting for several days for the resumption of US-Iranian talks, which began two weeks ago, but after about 15 hours they were discontinued without achieving a concrete result. The cease-fire in the war was unilaterally extended indefinitely by the United States.
Tensions between the United States, Israel and Iran escalated significantly on February 28, when the US and Israel carried out coordinated airstrikes on targets in Iran. Both military and government buildings were hit, and several high-ranking officials, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, were killed.
The attacks took place at a time of ongoing negotiations between Iran and the United States about Iran’s nuclear program, what significantly complicated diplomatic efforts to de-escalate the situation. Iran described the attacks by the US and Israel as aggression and responded with a series of military and political actions that spread the conflict to other states in the Middle East region.
