国际组织、政府领导人和华尔街正试图判定美国与以色列同伊朗之战的终局，因为唐纳德·特朗普总统就如何退出这场如今已持续约1个月的冲突，发出愈来愈混乱且相互矛盾的讯号。战事已把美国加油站油价推升到每加仑4美元以上，令共和党在中期选举年面临更高的政治风险；据说79岁的特朗普也意识到，这种局面难以为继。他已安排今晚发表电视讲话，而分析人士和官员则在寻找迹象，判断这场冲突是会扩大、暂停，还是朝谈判方向发展。
这场战争已造成严重伤亡并向地区外溢。迄今已有超过5,000人丧生，其中大多是平民，死者中近3/4在伊朗，另有略超过1,300人在黎巴嫩；在这里，以色列在该激进组织发动攻击后，针对与伊朗结盟的真主党开辟了第二战线。美国大多数民众反对这场战争；尽管与德黑兰的谈判仍在进行，且没有公开证据显示伊朗对美国构成直接威胁，特朗普和总理本雅明·内塔尼亚胡仍然发动了这场战争。特朗普一直使用变动不定的理由，而伊朗则设法打击美国盟友，并扰乱能源市场。
伊朗总统马苏德·佩泽什基安在周三致美国人的信中表示，伊朗与美国没有敌意，并且是在自卫；他警告说，持续对抗的代价比以往任何时候都更高，而且徒劳无功。他补充说，受威胁的基础设施攻击将直接针对伊朗人民，而他在周二表示，伊斯兰共和国有必要的意志结束这场战争，但前提是必须有某些保证。这篇文章指出，战场、石油市场和美国国内政治如今已紧密相连，尽管最终状态仍不明朗，而且双方都在暗示可能的退出路径，却未真正承诺。
International organizations, government leaders and Wall Street are trying to determine the endgame of the US-Israel war with Iran as President Donald Trump gives increasingly chaotic and contradictory signals about how to exit a conflict that is now about 1 month old. The fighting has lifted US pump prices above $4 a gallon, raising political risk for Republicans in a midterm election year, and Trump, 79, is said to recognize the situation is unsustainable. He has scheduled a televised speech for this evening while analysts and officials look for signs of whether the conflict will widen, pause or move toward negotiations.
The war has already produced heavy casualties and regional spillover. More than 5,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed so far, with almost 3/4 of the dead in Iran and just over 1,300 in Lebanon, where Israel opened a second front against Iran-aligned Hezbollah after attacks by the militant group. A majority of Americans oppose the war, which Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu began despite ongoing talks with Tehran and without public evidence that Iran posed a direct threat to the US. Trump has used shifting justifications, while Iran has managed to strike US allies and unsettle energy markets.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said in a Wednesday letter to Americans that Iran has no enmity with the US and has acted in self-defense, and he warned that continuing confrontation is more costly and futile than ever before. He added that threatened attacks on infrastructure would directly target the Iranian people, and on Tuesday he said the Islamic Republic has the necessary will to end the war, but only with certain guarantees. The article suggests the battlefield, oil market and US domestic politics are now tightly linked, even as the end state remains unclear and both sides signal possible off-ramps without committing to them.