The United States struck Iran for a second consecutive day on Wednesday, and Iran responded by targeting American military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain. Donald Trump declared the ceasefire with Tehran finished, dismissed any further negotiations as a waste of time, and described the campaign as an effort to strip Iran of its nuclear capability. The collapse of the talks removes the main constraint that had kept a wider regional escalation in check.

That constraint had rested largely on Washington. For weeks, while the United States pursued a negotiated settlement over the Strait of Hormuz, Israel held back from major operations against Iran. With his sights set on a deal, Trump had little interest in letting Netanyahu derail it. Now that Trump has abandoned the diplomatic track, that restraint has weakened.

A funeral built to project continuity

The moment coincides with the final day of an extended state funeral for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, killed in a joint US-Israeli strike on February 28. The ceremonies began on July 4 and were designed to run for six days across Tehran, Qom, the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala, and finally Mashhad, where Khamenei is set to be buried on Thursday at the shrine of Imam Reza.

Analysts have described the event as a political undertaking presented as a religious one, meant to show that the Iranian state remains stable despite the........

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