But messages may have been passed, via Egypt’s foreign minister, between Iran and Mr Trump’s Middle East envoy. Sir Keir Starmer saying that he was “aware” of talks between Iran and the US only confirms that diplomatic engagement is under way, but its scope and substance remain unclear and contested. Uncertainty fragments attention in a moment of crisis. This is important because, quietly offstage, Israel is advancing measures in the West Bank that shift its occupation to annexation. Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to Britain, wrote in the Economist last week that Israel’s government aimed to “deal a deadly blow to Palestinian statehood under the cover of war”.