LOS ANGELES (OC).–Iran’s mullah leaders and President Donald Trump continue to trade barbs over Islamabad-brokered peace talks, with Iran rejecting all of Trump’s conditions for peace, like surrendering its 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium. Trump has told Iran that peace talks are at the borderline of or resuming bombing on Iran’s energy infrastructure, something Trump doesn’tr want to do, preferring to resolve the crisis with diplomacy. Iran refuses to acquiesce on very basic issues for resolving the war, including opening up the Strait of Hormuz “Believe me, if we d on’t get the right answers, it goes very quickly. We’re all ready to go,” Trump said at Joint Base Andrews. Asked how long he would wait, Trump said, “ it could be a few days, but it could go very quickly,” meaning, he would end the ceasefire unless Iran agrees to certain basic conditions for peace.
Trump wants Iran to stop its piracy in the Strait of Hormus where the Iranian Republican Guard Corps continues to torment commercial ships trying to transit the international waterway. Trump rejects Iran’s claim of sovereignty to the Hormuz Strait, saying they would turn the global waterway into a turnpike where it would arbitrarily charge transit fees. “If aggression against Iran is repeated, the promised regional war will extend behavior the region this time,” the Revolutionary Guards, who apparently run the country. Newly minted Mojtaba Khmenei has played incognito worried that Israel or the U.S. could liquidate him at anytime. But when it comes to negotiation, Trump’s Pakistani mediators have made little progress with Iran insisting it must retain all of its stockpile of enriched uranium and sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, a deal-breaker from the start.
How can Islamabad continue mediating talks when Iran rejects calls to open up the Hormuz Strait. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif knows that Iran has no legal right to control the Hormuz Strait, yet hears Iran talk as if they’re in complete control. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erogan welcomed a “reasonable solution” kmowing it’s not reasonable for Tehran to claim sovereignty over an international warterway. It would be the equivalent of Erdogan charging a fee for passing through the Bosphorus Strait near the Mediterranean Sea/ Iran’s parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Iran’s top negotiator, the the U.S. had “obvious and hidden moves by the enemy,” a bad attitude for someone Iran places responsibility to resolve the crisis. Whether admitted to or not, none of Iran’s peace envoys have any clout, other than following orders from the IRGC.
.U.S. and global media are trying to figure out Trump’s next move after postponing any military action. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeskian Tehran rejected the idea that Trump was dictating a settlement,” forcing Iran to surrender through coercionis nothing but an illusion,” showing that Iran has no intent of complying with Trump’s demands. Asking Trump to pay war reparations to Iran as a condition to end the war shows just how much Iranian officials don’t have a clue how to negotiate with Trump. Trump wants assurances that Iran will not now or in the future pursue developing a nuclear bomb. Trump said that Iran acquiring a bomb would trigger a nuclear arms race in the Persian Gulf, forcing the Arab Gulf State to follow through with the same deterrence. Iran denies that its nuclear enrichment program was ever about creating an A-bomb.
Iran said it was busy establishing a control zone in the Strait of Hormuz where any tanker or freighter seeking to transit the Strait would need Iran’s approval and assessment of certain fees. All Arab Gulf state reject the idea that Iran can turn the Hormuz Strait into a turnpike to charge fees. About 54 commercial ships had transited the Hormuz Strait last week, a fraction of 140 a day before the Feb. 28 war started. Iran thinks it can choke off global oil and naural gas supplies, wreaking havoc in world energy markets. Trump knows that skyrocketing oil and gas prices and shortages have damaged his approval ratings now hovering under 40%. Whatever Trump decides to do in the near term, it must improve global energy supplies to bring down inflation in many sectors. Voters fcaing the November Midterm elections are considering Trump’s foreign policy on energy prices.
Time is running out on Iran and Trump as the stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz continues without end. Without ending Iran’s piracy in the Strait, Trump can’t bring down global oil prices now hovering under $100 a barret. For global energy prices to return to normal, the price of a barrel of oil must come down to about $60 a barrel. “The Strait will open, and we’ll normalize energy prices,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Bessent knows that U.S. and global investors want the war to end to return to stable energy prices, something currently hurting Trump’s approval ratings. Trump said he’d wants diplomacy to work to end the Iran War but doesn’t know whether Iran will let it happen. If Iran’s ruling mullah think that Trump will let Iran control the Strait of Hormuz, they don’t have a clue. Iran must compromise on sovereignty and open up the Hormuz Strait.
About the Author
John M. Curtis wirtes politically neutal commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of DodgingThe Bullet and Operation Charisma.
