Roving Periscope: “Welcome to Hell,” Iran invites US troops amid Pak’s peace efforts
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: As America ramps up arms, ammunition and troops around Iran, and amid Pakistan’s ‘peace efforts,’ the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, and the latter’s counter-strikes across West Asia (Middle East) continued unabated with little hope for the cessation of hostilities in any foreseeable future.
After multiple flip-flops, U-turns, and changing goalposts, President Donald Trump on Sunday called Iran’s current leaders “very reasonable” as the US prepared for a ground assault on Iran, probably after April 6 (Easter Day) when the latest 10-day pause he gave Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz expires, the media reported on Monday.
Over the weekend, anti-war Americans held over 4,000 demonstrations against the Trump administration. In the US, Christian faith leaders demonstrated outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility after a ‘No Kings’ protest against Trump in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday.
He claimed the US and Iran have been meeting “directly and indirectly” and that Iran’s new leaders have been “very reasonable,” even as more US troops arrived in the region and Tehran warned it will not accept humiliation. Iran also announced that the US troops, if they landed on Iranian soil, will return in coffins.
“Welcome to Hell,” Tehran Times, Iran’s English daily, declared.
Trump’s remarks on Sunday came after Pakistan, which is trying to broker peace as an intermediary between Tehran and Washington, and thus find its own relevance, said it was preparing to host “meaningful talks” in the coming days aimed at ending the month-long US-Israeli war against Iran, which has, however, shown little interest in Islamabad’s diplomatic moves.
“I think we’ll make a deal with them, I’m pretty sure, but it’s possible we won’t,” Trump told reporters on Sunday evening as he travelled aboard Air Force One to Washington.
He said he thought the US had “already accomplished regime change” in Tehran after initial strikes on February 28 killed the country’s supreme leader and other top officials, but said, twice, that their replacements seemed “reasonable.”
An first Israeli precision strikes on February 28 killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was replaced later by his son Mojtaba. Dozens of Iranian leaders, security and intelligence officers, and others, are among the thousands of people killed in Iran in the last one month of conflict.
With Iran’s retaliatory strikes, the war has since spread across a dozen pro-US countries of West Asia, killing and wounding thousands, causing wanton destruction and the biggest disruption ever to energy supplies hitting the global economy.
Pakistan’s relevance
Meanwhile, Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said his Islamabad talks with foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye on Sunday covered ways to bring an early end to the war, and potential US-Iran talks in Islamabad.
Scared of a potential Iranian strike, Pakistan, tied up with Saudi Arabia in a defence pact since September 2025, is trying to ward off joining hands the Saudis against Iran. It also attempting to find relevance among Muslim nations on the strength of its so-called “Islamic Bomb.”
“Pakistan will be honoured to host and facilitate meaningful talks between the two sides in coming days, for a comprehensive and lasting settlement of the ongoing conflict,” he said.
It was unclear whether the US and Iran had agreed to attend this effort—if anything, Tehran has already rejected Trump’s 15-point ceasefire plan sent through Islamabad, and announced its own five conditions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Earlier, Iran’s parliament speaker, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, accused the US of sending messages about possible negotiations, and concurrently planning a ground invasion of Iran. Tehran was ready to respond if US soldiers were deployed, he said.
“As long as the Americans seek Iran’s surrender, our response is that we will never accept humiliation,” he said in a message to the nation.
In recent days, the US Department of Defence has dispatched thousands of troops to West Asia, giving Trump the option of launching a ground offensive.
An Israeli official said there was no intention to scale back attacks against Iran ahead of any possible talks between Washington and Tehran, and that Israel would continue strikes against what it described as ‘military targets.’
Israeli strikes
Israel’s military said it launched more than 140 air strikes on central and western Iran, including Tehran, on Sunday, hitting ballistic missile launch sites and storage facilities, among other targets.
Iranian state media reported that strikes had hit Mehrabad airport and a petrochemical plant in the northern city of Tabriz.
A chemical plant in southern Israel near Beersheba was hit by a missile or missile debris as Israel fended off multiple salvos from Iran, prompting official warnings to the public to stay away due to “hazardous materials.”
Iran’s effective blockade of the energy artery, Strait of Hormuz, which carries 20 percent of global oil and gas shipments, has spiked oil prices and spread economic pain around the world.
Stocks crashed in Asia on Monday as investors dug in for a protracted Gulf conflict that already has oil prices heading for a record monthly rise, bringing a spike in inflation and the risk of recession worldwide. Japan’s Nikkei index was down 4.7 percent, while India’s Sensex and Nifty lost over 2 percent, the media reported.
Oil prices looked poised to extend their gains, with Brent headed for a record monthly rise. Brent crude futures jumped USD 3.09, or 2.74 percent, to USD 115.66 a barrel.
More US troops
Hundreds of additional US special operations personnel have arrived in West Asia, the New York Times reported on Sunday. That comes on top of thousands of US Marines that came on Friday aboard an amphibious assault ship, the first of two contingents, the US military has said.
The Pentagon was reportedly considering military options that could include ground forces, although Trump has not approved such plans so far.
He told Financial Times on Sunday that he wanted to “take the oil in Iran” and could seize the export hub of Kharg Island. Taking control of Kharg would require ground troops. The island handles 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports and seizing it would give the US the ability to severely disrupt Iran’s energy trade, placing enormous pressure on Tehran’s economy.
However, a majority of Americans are opposed to the month-long war with no end in sight and a likely military escalation. This could risk a protracted crisis, and weigh further on Trump’s already low approval ratings of just 32 percent last week, ahead of November midterm elections for US Congress.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis joined the conflict on Saturday, launching their first attacks on Israel and raising the prospect they could target and thus block a second key shipping route, the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Israeli authorities said on Sunday that they had intercepted two drones launched from Yemen.
