Iranian leaders fear being burned again by President Trump, who tore up a nuclear agreement reached during the Obama administration after lengthy negotiations.
The energy industry is planning for a future where the choke point on Iran’s southern coast is a lot less important.
As the United States and Iran make a second attempt at a deal, their negotiating styles are on a collision course.
With the two-week cease-fire almost over, Vice President JD Vance was expected to head to Pakistan on Tuesday for the second round of negotiations.
Marines are searching thousands of containers aboard the Touska, an Iranian cargo ship that the Navy disabled and seized on Sunday.
The vice president is again center stage, after abruptly leaving the first round of high-level Iranian peace talks without an agreement.
President Trump said the United States attacked an Iranian ship that tried to get past the U.S. blockade, hours after Iran said the blockade was a war crime that violated the cease-fire.
Iran’s government could emerge from the conflict with a blueprint to keep adversaries at bay, regardless of any restrictions on its nuclear program.
Analysts said energy and shipping companies would be reluctant to fully restore operations until they were confident that hostilities were over.
Little is known about Pickaxe Mountain, but some experts say it illustrates the impossibility of relying on force alone to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb.