New Delhi, July 10 -- DUBAI - A senior US official confirmed Friday that diplomatic contacts with Iran have not paused despite a third consecutive day of Gulf military exchanges, a signal that neither the airstrikes on Iranian facilities nor Iranian missile and drone attacks on American military bases in the region had closed the back-channel through which both sides are communicating.

diplomacy is continuing. What that constitutes in practice, whether formal negotiations or informal contact through Qatari or Omani intermediaries, was not clarified. The confirmation itself carried weight: an unnamed US official with access to diplomatic channels saw value in saying the talks had not ended.

The diplomatic signal arrived on the same day t...