Restraint, diplomacy only way to defuse Iran crisis: China Daily editorial

By now, it is more than obvious that Washington is doubling down on its "maximum pressure" on Teheran, and the latter is desperately trying to divert such pressure.

The escalation of mutual threats between Teheran and Washington appears inevitable. While doing nothing to advance their respective agendas, it may greatly boost the likelihood of an unintended conflict.

Washington certainly deserves blame for its withdrawal from the hard-earned nuclear deal based on unsubstantiated claims that Iran has breached the conditions of the deal. It was this rash decision that opened Pandora's box.

If, as Teheran has officially announced, its stockpile of uranium has surpassed the 300-kilogram limit and level of enrichment is now above 3.67 percent, and it goes back on other deal commitments, things will fast rewind to the volatile pre-2015 state.

In doing this, Teheran risks depriving itself of an otherwise powerful argument for international efforts to ease the sanctions against it, and offers Washington an excuse to further ratchet up the pressure, hence exposing itself to more severe ones.

That the United States president ultimately called off an approved strike following the shooting down of a US drone should not be read simply as weakness. Washington may be poorly prepared, unwilling, even ambivalent about entering a conflict with the Middle East power, the outcome of which is difficult to predict. But there's no guarantee both parties will remain as sensible as they have been and immune to dangerous misjudgment. Particularly since the current US president wants to be anything but predictable.

Donald Trump has just warned Iran to "be careful". US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also warned of "further isolation and sanctions".

Our advice, however, is that all parties be very careful, so that the state of affairs doesn't slide back to the precarious pre-deal tensions.

By all parties, we mean every player in the game, perhaps especially Britain, whose Royal Navy just seized an Iranian oil tanker. And of course Teheran, which just threatened to reciprocate.

Despite them all being traditional US allies, Teheran has every reason to turn to the European signatories to help preserve the Iran nuclear deal as well as its legitimate rights and interests.

It has said it is still open to negotiations with its European partners and expressed the hope they will "take steps" toward implementing their commitments. They now have 60 days to find a way to circumvent the US sanctions and deliver on the deal's promise to allow the Iranian people to benefit from it.