India, April 27 -- The Iran-US confrontation has entered a dangerous pause: the guns have largely fallen silent, but none of the core issues that triggered the conflict have been resolved. What stands instead is a brittle ceasefire without a roadmap, a US-led naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, and a slow-burn crisis that is roiling global energy markets and Middle East security.

In Islamabad, the second round of ceasefire talks between the US and Iran collapsed, underscoring just how little trust exists between Tehran and the Pakistani mediators it openly derides as "flunkies" of Washington. Yet, despite the collapse, Washington went ahead and declared an "indefinite ceasefire" - without any formal agreement on what that ceasefire a...