US President Donald Trump has said that he is going to make the Strait of Hormuz a US territory “pretty soon” while preparing a hard economic blow to force Iran into ending the war. Reacting to his comments, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said the waterway will remain Iranian, and that blockade enforcement will continue until the US accepts defeat.
Similar views were expressed by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who said the Islamabad MoU marked an “end of the war, not a ceasefire”, pointing out that the US violated the deal and fighting resumed, leaving no 60-day ceasefire to extend.
Former US ambassador and White House Middle East policy adviser Marc Ginsberg said that the US president and his entire administration are clueless about the endgame in the Iran war.
Ginsberg added, “The Straits of Hormuz are completely in play, and Iran is completely cut off from the foreign currency reserves that it needs to sustain its economy.” However, he warned that the White House lacks a clear strategy to resolve the standoff.
“You have a situation where there’s no end game for this administration. We don’t know what the president’s planning to do,” Ginsberg said.
“The only thing we know is that he’s engaged in what I call the campaign of epic endurance.
”Analysts like Marc Grazer said, “The Iranians probably can resist this. The Iranians, at least as far as the United States is concerned, have been a pariah state since 1979, and they’ve been subject to lots of sanctions over the years.”
While a settlement between the US and Iran appears to be a distant dream, the continuity of Israeli actions in Gaza, including settler expansionist plans, strikes on Lebanon and the occupation of the Golan Heights in Syria, is threatening peace and stability in the region.
Follow us
