New Delhi, Sept. 26 -- more sanctions, more strikes, and no accounting for the dead.

Iran's foreign minister rejected the idea that military pressure could ever restore safe shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the corridor through which roughly a fifth of the world's oil passes. "Maritime security cannot be restored through further military actions, threats, blockade, or economic coercion," he told reporters, a direct answer to months of American and allied naval buildup aimed at guaranteeing passage through the strait by force rather than negotiation.

That line connected directly to the toll Araghchi put on the war itself. "During the US-Israeli aggression against Iran, more than 5,000 people have been killed, including hundreds of ...