Iran’s leaders believe that they can withstand an enduring standoff longer than President Trump. The strategy could be economically devastating for average Iranians.
Washington is demanding that the Baghdad government dismantle Iran-backed Iraqi militias that have been attacking Americans and U.S. sites there recently.
A British-French plan to secure the Strait of Hormuz would give the continent a role. But Tehran and Washington are still calling the shots.
The comments on the Strait of Hormuz by China’s leader, Xi Jinping, reflect Beijing’s complex relations with Iran and other Persian Gulf nations.
The U.S. remains an essential player. The problem, one analyst said, is how to deal effectively with a power that is “indispensable, coercive and unpredictable at the same time.”
The gas-rich Gulf nation is in a state of “strategic shock” after the war dealt a serious blow to its economy, sending ripples around the world.
The leader of the Iran-backed militia said that a more durable cease-fire with Israel would require the fulfillment of a list of longstanding demands.
The day after Iran declared the vital waterway open, it reversed course, injecting new peril into navigation there.
On a day when both Iran and the United States declared the Strait of Hormuz opened, hopes for an agreement rose. But statements from President Trump and Iranian leaders about negotiations were sometimes at odds.
Amid conflicting reports about the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, European leaders gathered on Friday to coordinate a plan to guard it.