India, July 20 -- The Iran-US confrontation in the Gulf has entered a dangerous new phase, with a fragile ceasefire collapsing into a calibrated but steadily intensifying shadow war across West Asia.

What began as a dispute over shipping lanes in the Strait of Hormuz has now escalated into direct attacks on American bases, strikes on critical infrastructure across the Gulf and a mounting sense of unease in regional capitals from Doha to Muscat and Kuwait City.

In the most recent episode of Point Blank, Executive Editor Shishir Gupta traces the current spiral back to a digital memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States, centered on freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.

A key line referring to "Iranian arrang...