Tehran has not issued a clear line regarding a warning or threat, nor has it outlined the next steps, Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem reports.

“This is because the decision-maker will be the Supreme National Security Council, and it’s clear that making a decision is a very complicated process,” Hashem says. “On one hand, Iran wants to retaliate, and on the other, it seeks to maintain a certain distance from the US.

“We must remember that Israel and Iran are both regional powers, while the US is a superpower with nuclear facilities and nuclear bombs,” he adds.

Hashem reports that Iran is “trying to impose a kind of deterrence, a balance of pain for pain, by daily launches”, with Iranian rockets hitting bases in different Israeli cities.

“The Iranian president spoke about how the Israelis dragged the US into this war, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned that all the US bases are under observation, but neither gave a clear line on what the next step will be,” Hashem adds. “That is up to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, which will need to convene to make a decision.”

Opinion

Editorial

On press freedoms
Updated 03 May, 2026

On press freedoms

THE citizenry forgets, to its own peril, how important a free and independent media is in the preservation of their...
Inflation strain
03 May, 2026

Inflation strain

PAKISTAN’S return to double-digit inflation after 21 months signals renewed economic strain where external shocks...
Troubled waters
03 May, 2026

Troubled waters

PAKISTAN’S water crisis is often framed in terms of scarcity. Increasingly, it is also a crisis of contamination....
Iran stalemate
Updated 02 May, 2026

Iran stalemate

THE US and Iran are currently somewhere between war and peace. While a tenuous ceasefire — extended largely due to...
Tax shortfall
02 May, 2026

Tax shortfall

THE Rs684bn shortfall in tax collection during the first 10 months of the fiscal year is a continuation of a...
Teaching inclusion
02 May, 2026

Teaching inclusion

DISCRIMINATORY and exclusionary content in Punjab’s textbooks has been flagged in Inclusive Education for a United...