India, March 24 -- Pakistan has emerged as one of the mediators, and US defence secretary Pete Hegseth as a possible scapegoat, amid hopes that the US-Israel war on Iran could indeed be "winding down", after President Donald Trump said on Monday that his government was engaged in "productive" talks with Tehran. Fighting, though, showed no signs of slowing as of Tuesday, while Iran altogether denied there were any talks.

Inside America, though, there is already talk of pinning responsibility for who actually started the war, which is in its fourth week and not exactly going as per Trump's "swift and decisive" claim made on Day 1, February 28.

On Day 24, Monday night, Trump pointed towards his defence/war secretary Hegseth at an event in ...