Trump has achieved something truly amazing with this misadventure: making Iran look like the rational actor.

A proposed peace agreement between Iran and the US seemed to still be on the table on Tuesday despite US bombings of Iranian targets – the first military action by Washington since the 8 April ceasefire.

The Iranian foreign ministry denounced the US attack – aimed at missile launchers and efforts to lay fresh mines in the strait of Hormuz – as “an act of bad faith” and “a definitive violation of the ceasefire” and said it would not leave aggression unanswered. But it conspicuously did not pull out of the talks that were continuing under the joint mediation of Pakistan and Qatar.

The Iranian military announced no specific reprisals at this stage, suggesting it did not want the attack – which killed four Iranian soldiers – to disrupt the delicate last steps towards an agreement that it intends to hail as one of the great milestones in Iran’s history of resistance. Brent oil futures climbed 4% after news of the renewed fighting.