Tehran says no return to diplomacy after attacks

Iran says negotiations with the United States are now off the table after the US and Israel launched wide-ranging attacks on it, even as Tehran was previously engaging in what had been widely reported as promising talks.

The latest developments belie Washington's claim that the war with Iran would end "very soon", raising concerns that the region could be embroiled in the conflict for a prolonged period. The strikes have already started affecting global energy prices.

In an interview with the US' PBS News aired on Tuesday, Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said talking to the US is no longer on the agenda after what he called a "very bitter experience" during previous negotiations.

"After three rounds of negotiations and after the American team in the negotiation … said itself that we made a big progress, still, they decided to attack us," he said.

US President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that the conflict with Iran was "going to be ended soon". But hours later, he posted on social media that if Iran "does anything that stops the flow of oil within the Strait of Hormuz", they would be hit by the US "20 times harder than they have been hit thus far".

Arhama Siddiqa, a research fellow at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad in Pakistan, said that from Tehran's perspective, the experience of facing military pressure while simultaneously engaging in diplomacy has reinforced a long-standing suspicion that US commitments in such negotiations are not always matched by actions on the ground.

The "bitter experience" is likely to strengthen hard-line thinking within Iran that dialogue with the US carries high political and strategic risks, Siddiqa said.

Meanwhile, any de-escalation by Washington could expose fractures within the US-Israeli alliance, she added.

"If Washington were to frame the confrontation as a strategic success and seek to de-escalate, Israel may find itself in a complicated position, particularly if its leadership believes continued military pressure on Iran better serves its security objectives," she said.

"I believe Israel has historically preferred sustained coercive pressure over negotiated outcomes, and this could create an awkward divergence if Washington moves toward claiming victory and stepping back."

The space for diplomacy has narrowed as regional tensions intensify," leaving the Middle East vulnerable to a cycle of escalation driven as much by mistrust and competing agendas as by immediate security concerns", she added.

'Defensive' involvement

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his country would deploy a military surveillance aircraft to the Middle East and send missiles to the United Arab Emirates, but would not put troops on the ground in Iran. The involvement is "purely defensive" and "in defense of Australians who are in the region" and friends in the UAE, he said.

The war has killed more than 1,200 people in Iran, including 200 children and 11 healthcare workers, Iranian Deputy Health Minister Ali Jafarian said in an interview with Al Jazeera.

Meanwhile, another US soldier died on Sunday after sustaining injuries during an attack last week in Saudi Arabia, bringing the number of US casualties to seven.

The conflict's spillover and the incessant fighting have uprooted hundreds of thousands in the Middle East region.

In Lebanon, nearly 700,000 people, including around 200,000 children, have been forced from their homes, UNICEF said on Monday.

Bahraini authorities said more than 30 people had been injured by an Iranian drone attack on Monday, while Qatari officials condemned the killing of two civilians in Saudi Arabia.