In Reply to: Looks like Iran considers the matter closed and US makes it clear posted by blindness on April 13, 2024 at 21:24:11
(reporting on what an official told him directly) at least one of the intermediaries in this episode was Turkey. Blinken apparently asked Turkish officials to pass along the message that the US wanted the retaliation to be limited, and Iran, in turn, passed along the pertinent information about the upcoming strike to let Israel know ahead of time. Presumably on that account as well, Turkey was only one of the channels used in that exchange.
This may all be theater but I'm somewhat surprised, pleasantly, that Iran handled this with the kind of maturity we need. Bombing a nation's embassy is often considered damn near an act of war in most cases. Instead what we got was some performative outrage (the currency of politics in the Middle East as well), a face saving exit for both parties, and a chance for both sides to declare victory and move on.
Let's see if this is enough for Netanyahu, who, like I said earlier, really needs additional outside enemies and more military conflicts to survive his (what I consider to be) long overdue political collapse in Israel.