On the 32nd day of the US-Israel war against Iran, the evolving dynamics of the conflict reinforced the sense that it has become a deep war of attrition, where sustained allied military pressure on Iranian infrastructure has so far failed to deliver it a clear strategic advantage. Meanwhile, Tehran’s ability to impose asymmetric costs, particularly through maritime disruption and coordinated proxy action, has continued to shape the broader trajectory, leaving diplomatic efforts active but stalled amid maximalist positions on both sides.

Over the past 24 hours, US and Israeli forces intensified precision and standoff strikes, with bunker buster munitions targeting Iran’s Isfahan region, including the Badr military airbase and an adjacent ammunition depot, which triggered large secondary explosions.

Power outages were also reported in parts of Tehran, as Washington projected confidence that a significant portion of Iran’s air defence and missile infrastructure has been degraded.

Iran, for its part, maintained a calibrated but persistent response pattern, combining direct missile and drone activity with maritime and proxy actions. Most notably, a strike on a Kuwaiti-flagged oil tanker near Dubai caused a major fire and oil spill. This incident underscored Tehran’s willingness to widen the economic dimension of the conflict by targeting energy flows beyond the immediate battlefield.

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