Iran's retaliation has proven effective—U.S. forces haven't struck in two nights, and Iran immediately announced a "reciprocal pause."

On July 24, Trump ordered U.S. forces not to launch attacks against Iran that day, breaking the previous norm of 13 consecutive days of airstrikes. Then, for two consecutive nights on the 25th and 26th, U.S. forces still refrained from action.

On the 26th, Iranian Army spokesperson Akraminia顺势 declared: Iran is currently adopting a "retaliatory deterrence" strategy; since the U.S. has halted strikes over the past two nights, Iran's reciprocal strikes are also suspended.

First, why did the U.S. step back? After receiving a new operational plan on the 24th, Trump directly rejected approval. On one hand, an Omani delegation had already arrived in Tehran to negotiate shipping passage through the Strait of Hormuz, requiring diplomatic space. On the other hand, U.S. military critical air defense ammunition stocks were critically low—the New York Times revealed that the White House fears escalation would further deplete Pentagon reserves of Patriot interceptors in the Middle East. Yet Trump still stated late on the 24th: "We can destroy everything they have." Thus, the pause ≠ surrender—it’s merely reloading.

Now, why did Iran “cooperate” and call for a halt?

On the early morning of the 26th, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesperson Muhbi expanded the boundaries of deterrence: any nation supporting the U.S. during the conflict—including Britain and Gulf states—would now be considered a "legitimate target." The rationale was specific: recently, U.S. B-1 strategic bombers launched strikes against Iran from RAF Fairford in Britain. The UK government responded by stating its armed forces were "ready," but newly appointed Prime Minister Starmer had only agreed to "defensive" support, rejecting offensive actions against Iran.

Here lies a key signal: Iran framed the "reciprocal pause" as a voluntary choice, while actually using it to consolidate gains from the past two weeks. Since the 7th, Iran has struck over 200 U.S.-Israeli targets, with missile and drone attacks hitting U.S. bases in Jordan, Bahrain, Qatar, and the UAE multiple times. Akraminia even claimed: "The U.S. is now cornered"—the war zone has expanded to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, encompassing "all countries along the route from Jordan to the Persian Gulf coast."

On the surface, it appears to be a tacit de-escalation: "U.S. didn’t strike for two nights → Iran reciprocally pauses." In reality, both sides are positioning themselves for the next round of confrontation.

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1871785005080640/

Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.