Iran War Hits Day 100 as Tehran Threatens 'True Promise 5' Strike on Israel

The war between Iran on one side and the United States and Israel on the other reached its 100th day on Sunday, with no end in sight to a conflict that has killed thousands, shaken global energy markets and repeatedly tested a fragile and frequently violated ceasefire. The grim milestone arrived alongside a fresh threat from Tehran to unleash a major retaliatory strike on Israel.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps signaled it was prepared to execute "Operation True Promise 5," the latest in a series of named missile-and-drone barrages aimed at Israel, in response to recent Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut. Iranian state media reported an emergency session of the Supreme National Security Council and promised what officials called a "painful and decisive response." In the previous iterations of the "True Promise" campaign, the public naming of an operation has consistently been followed by an actual attack.

According to a tally compiled by Al Jazeera, at least 3,593 people have been confirmed killed in Lebanon since the war began, along with roughly 3,468 in Iran and 29 in Gulf states. Twenty-six Israelis and 13 U.S. service members have also been killed in Iranian attacks over the same period. The figures underscore how a conflict that began with targeted strikes has metastasized into a regional war drawing in Lebanon, the Gulf and shipping lanes vital to the world economy.

The fighting flared again over the weekend. The U.S. military said it shot down two Iranian one-way attack drones over the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday — the second consecutive day of interceptions over the strategic waterway. Iran's Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, condemned U.S. strikes earlier in the week near Sirik and on Qeshm Island as a "clear violation" of the ceasefire that nominally took hold earlier this spring.

Diplomacy remains stalled. An adviser to Iran's supreme leader told reporters that negotiations are "at a deadlock" and that "the ball is in Trump's court," demanding the United States unfreeze billions of dollars in Iranian assets as a precondition for serious talks. With both sides trading strikes even as mediators shuttle between capitals, the 100-day mark has become less a turning point than a measure of how entrenched the war has grown — and how far apart the combatants remain on any formula to stop it.