The 60-day Iran deal deadline passed on Monday, and the two sides are further apart
Trump says he does not want an extension. He also told Fox News he would bomb Oman if it "gets in the way" of US control of Hormuz.
The June memorandum of understanding, signed at Versailles, gave Washington and Tehran 60 days to end the war that the US and Israel started on 28 February and to settle Iran's nuclear file. Monday was that deadline. The Associated Press wrote that the two sides are further apart than they were in June.
Almost nothing of the interim deal is left. It had called for a halt to military operations and for the Strait of Hormuz to reopen, with Iran given a vaguely defined role in facilitating traffic. Iran read that as a claim of control, and possibly the right to charge fees. A week after the signing, Tehran began firing on vessels using a US-overseen route along Oman's coast. The US struck Iran, Iran hit Arab countries hosting American forces, and Trump restored a blockade of Iranian ports.
Talks, such as they are, have been about Hormuz and the blockade. AP said there is no sign of a compromise on the strait, and no sign that detailed nuclear talks have even started. Iranian officials say they stopped negotiating in June. Trump says talks continue. Pakistan, which helped broker the June text, said last week it was "not closing the chapter."
On Monday, ABC News reported that Trump told Fox News journalist Trey Yingst: "If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the shit out of them." Omani and Iranian officials have been talking about future navigation through the strait. Trump has also said he will "pretty soon" declare Hormuz US territory. He told reporters he is not seeking an extension of the memorandum.
Hormuz carried about a fifth of the world's traded oil and gas before the war. Traffic is now a fraction of that, and the longer it stays closed the more it shows up in fuel prices, including here. Iran wants the blockade lifted, US forces pulled back, and reparations. Trump wants Tehran to pay, and wants the strait. Neither side has a clean way out. Escalating burns through interceptors and hits the US midterms. Giving Iran the waterway looks like defeat.
The Oman line is the new one. Oman is a US partner and sits on the south bank of the strait. If Trump is serious, he has just threatened an ally for talking to Iran about a waterway both of them actually border.
Iran, speaking to Reuters, said Washington must implement the agreement's provisions "within the short period of a few weeks" as a precondition for further talks. Trump's Truth Social post on Monday repeated that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. The clock the June deal set has run out. Nobody has put a new one on the table.