Steelman · slot B
The closing diplomatic window
A career diplomat would argue —Strip away the military theatrics and the real story is the collapse of channels. Washington cancelled the Islamabad visit. Tehran has tabled a new proposal but openly says it doesn't believe the trust exists to receive it. Araghchi is on a punishing shuttle through Pakistan, Oman and Russia precisely because the direct track is broken and someone has to keep the wires warm. Submitting evidence to the ICC and the Red Cross is what governments do when they've stopped expecting bilateral redress. None of this is irreversible yet — proposals are on the table, intermediaries are willing — but diplomacy has a clock, and right now the gap between what each side needs to say publicly and what it would need to concede privately is widening faster than the envoys can close it.