Iran claims regional neighbors seek independent security order amid US sanctions threat

Six months after American and Israeli airstrikes opened a war that has killed thousands, Iran is repositioning itself not as a nation under siege but as a potential architect of a new regional order—one its parliament speaker claims neighboring states are quietly seeking. The Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil once flowed freely, now sees only a trickle of ships, while Washington prepares what it calls its most severe sanctions in history. Between Tehran's defiant posturing and its president's quiet signals of openness to diplomacy, the world watches a conflict that has