Tehran confirms its response to American bombings in the south will be measured, ensuring the delicate diplomatic dialogue is not overly disturbed.
TEHRAN — The dust from the morning’s American airstrikes in the southern coastal provinces had barely settled, catching the harsh midday sun in a pale ochre haze. Inside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a half-empty glass of Zamzam cola slowly lost its carbonation on a teak table as officials diligently mapped out a retaliatory missile barrage that would not conflict with the afternoon’s fragile diplomatic schedule.
The threat of counter-bombardment comes mere hours after U.S. Central Command renewed its destruction of Iranian military infrastructure, an escalation that both Washington and Tehran have politely agreed to treat as a standard preamble to the ongoing peace talks. Iranian officials spent the early afternoon reviewing targeting coordinates, cross-referencing blast radiuses with the itinerary of the United Nations special envoy to ensure no diplomatic lunches would be interrupted by early-warning sirens.
We are deeply committed to the peace process, which is why our upcoming retaliation will be calibrated to destroy only those American assets deemed superfluous to the immediate diplomatic dialogue.
American diplomats similarly praised the professionalism of the exchange. U.S. military forces reportedly provided a two-hour warning ahead of their morning strikes, allowing Iranian negotiators time to finalize a draft proposal on maritime security before calmly descending into reinforced subterranean bunkers. The mutual understanding highlights a sophisticated maturation of the conflict, wherein the total obliteration of military hardware is viewed less as a breakdown of talks and more as a dynamic form of localized punctuation.
As evening approached, the sky over the Zagros Mountains briefly illuminated with the contrails of outbound medium-range munitions. Back in the ministry, the teak tables were wiped clean, fresh tea was poured, and aides quietly prepared the evening briefing binders, confident that tomorrow’s negotiations would proceed exactly on schedule, provided the conference room remained structurally intact.