Imperative that coolheadedness prevails in the Middle East

The new president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, campaigned on promises to improve ties with the West and adopt a pragmatic foreign policy. He pledged to try to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, and has just appointed Abbas Araghchi, a pragmatic diplomat instrumental to the 2015 agreement, as foreign minister. His election and apparently reconciliatory moves have aroused hopes for potentially constructive interactions between Teheran and the West. Especially as all of the key stakeholders, including Israel and the United States, seemed to recognize that an escalation of the hostilities in the Middle East would not be in their interest.

The Joe Biden administration appeared bent on brokering a cease-fire and hostage exchange deal between Israel and the Hamas to give a boost to the Democratic Party ahead of November's elections in the US.

In spite of its determination to put an end to security threats from militant groups such as the Hamas and Hezbollah, Israel seemingly appreciated the folly of an all-out war where it would have to fight simultaneously on multiple fronts. Iran, too, has had to consider the consequences of getting dragged into a war that could prove to be an existential struggle.