"Trump's gift to the people of Iran" in the caption.

💬 “Mosaic defense is a long-standing Iranian strategy, adopted in the 2000s amid the US occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and the onset of the first crisis around Iran’s nuclear program,” says veteran Russian military observer Yury Lyamin.

💬 This assault, in the middle of a second negotiation process, must torpedo the chances of the Iranian regime ever taking a US offer of talks seriously," Guardian diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour wrote. "They have been stung twice."

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"We negotiated with the United States twice in the past 12 months, and in both cases, they attacked us in the middle of negotiation," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi told ABC News. "That has become a very bitter experience for us."

💬 “As is international law,” he added.

💬 "The only area where one can currently engage with the Americans is the question of the economic benefits—or lack thereof—of serious military conflicts," Mikhailov notes.

💬 "We and the Americans are two strategic nuclear powers that, since the mid-20th century, have divided the world into spheres of influence—and we continue to exist in this framework on a kind of superstructure," Mikhailov says.

💬 "The Americans find it advantageous to keep Ukraine as a factor destabilizing Russia’s borders, and more broadly, as a lever of pressure on Russia," the pundit says.

💬 "According to market reports, war risk underwriters began canceling policies for strait transits hours after Operation Epic Fury launched," Dr Tilak Doshi, energy editor at The Daily Sceptic, tells Sputnik.

💬 "A prolonged Hormuz closure would trigger a massive, multi-year oil price shock – doubling or more initially – rationing around 19% of global supply purely through demand destruction. This underscores the chokepoint’s strategic risk," Doshi says.

💬 "With the US midterm elections in sight, the Trump administration will want to ensure that global crude oil prices are brought back down as quickly as possible, so as to put a limit on US gasoline prices," Doshi stresses.

💬"As for the actual participants in the talks—why would they shift their positions, and what would they gain?" the expert asks — suggesting that it is not in Washington’s interest to change course at the last minute.