Trump said Thursday from the Oval Office that a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz has not yet been finalized. “Well, I don’t want to say it has been,” he told reporters. “It’s sort of open right now.” Then, hours later, leaving a White House event honoring Team USA athletes, he added: “Moving along good.” Between those two statements is the entirety of what can be confirmed about a deal that he said “could be soon.”
The caution is specific. Trump said the US Navy continues to enforce the blockade around Iran, and he flagged the reason that even a diplomatic agreement may not immediately produce a functioning strait: “They can always shoot something. They always have something or drop a mine. And if you have one mine sitting out there, you sort of mess things up because people don’t want to take their billion-dollar boats and accidentally get hit by a mine.” This is the presidential assessment of the deal’s durability that is different from the presidential assessment of the deal’s likelihood, and both assessments are accurate.
The Middle East Institute’s Nazee Moinian told Fox News that Iran’s revolutionary government “continues to view diminishing American influence as a core ideological goal, regardless of short-term diplomatic developments.” “Iran is a revolutionary state,” she said. “It’s committed to deflect, diminish, and eventually destroy American power and influence in the region and around the world.” This is the expert assessment of the country Trump is personally negotiating with, delivered on the same day Trump said negotiations are going “very well” and “it could be soon.”
The deal started as regime change and nuclear disarmament. It became a fight over the strait. It is now “sort of open.” “Moving along good.” Trump is personally involved. Iran can always drop a mine.
When the president says it could be soon and an expert says Iran’s goal is to destroy American influence, what exactly are the two parties negotiating toward?
Sources
Fox News Live: Trump, Hormuz deal, August 7
HuffPost: Trump Says Deal To Reopen Strait Of Hormuz Could Come As Early As Wednesday
