Diplomacy pays off: A timeline of events leading up to the ceasefire between US and Iran

Backchannel diplomatic efforts by Pakistan appear to have finally paid off, as the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire after weeks of escalating hostilities triggered by US-Israeli strikes on February 28 that quickly spiralled into a wider regional conflict.

During this time, the crisis has unfolded through a mix of military escalations, retaliatory attacks, and behind-the-scenes negotiations, with failed ceasefire proposals and last-minute mediation all shaping the path to this vital breakthrough.

Here is a timeline of the key events and statements that defined the conflict:

The US and Israel launched an attack on Iran via air and sea: a series of blasts in Tehran, including near the residence of the supreme leader. A US-Israel airstrike on an elementary school in southern Iran killed more than 170 people, most of them schoolgirls.

In retaliation, Iran attacked at least seven Gulf states, striking civilian infrastructure, damaging airports in the UAE and Kuwait, deploying a drone over residential areas in Qatar, and firing ballistic missiles into Jordan, while hitting an apartment building in Bahrain.

Iran confirmed that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, his family members, and other top officials had been killed in Israeli-US strikes a day earlier.

Moreover, 16 people were injured in 11 explosions in Qatar, while one was injured after drone attacks on Oman’s Doqm commercial port.

An Israeli strike damaged the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting complex and the Unesco site Golestan Palace. The total death toll in Iran crossed 700.

A US submarine torpedoed the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena near Sri Lanka while it was returning from a naval deployment. Iranian authorities said about 80 sailors perished. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the strike as an atrocity at sea and warned that “the United States will come to bitterly regret the precedent it has set.”

Iran’s Assembly of Experts selected Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei as the country’s new supreme leader.

The transition that happened without any disruption signalled both “institutional continuity and a consolidation of authority at a time when Iran remains under sustained military pressure,” according to Dawn correspondent Baqir Sajjad Syed.

Iran announced new missile strikes on Israel, with Israeli news outlets reporting that debris from interceptions fell in three areas.

At this point in the conflict, the maritime domain, particularly the Strait of Hormuz, emerged as the principal flashpoint, shaping both the military trajectory of the war and the........

© Dawn Prism