Hot on the heels of a rumored deal between Iran and Oman on the Strait of Hormuz comes more superheated gaseous emissions from Tehran; now Iran has issued another list of demands that it wants met before agreeing to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran's military and civil leadership has a long history of making outrageous demands, and this seems no exception.
A top Iranian national security official delivered a sweeping set of demands on Saturday that he said the United States must meet before the Strait of Hormuz can reopen to maritime traffic, throwing the fate of the critical trade waterway into question.
Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, issued a statement carried by state media laying out multiple requirements for reopening the strait. He called for the United States to lift its naval blockade and sanctions on Iran, withdraw the U.S. military from around Iran, pay war reparations and release frozen Iranian assets, as well as end attacks on Iran’s allies in the region and threats against the country.
To observe that President Trump is unlikely to agree to any of that may well be the greatest political and military understatement since the British King George III looked on a certain Corsican upstart who had just been crowned Emperor of France and dismissed him as a "bit of a bother." The United States isn't going to buy any of this.
But wait! There's more!
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Iran’s demands. A previous cease-fire between Iran and the United States, agreed to in June, had said that sanctions would be fully lifted only in the event of a final deal regarding Iran’s nuclear program. And U.S. officials have said in the past that Iran could only access its frozen funds if it committed to giving up its highly enriched uranium first.
The statement from Mr. Zolghadr came as Iran and Oman have been negotiating an agreement on the future management of the Strait of Hormuz, which sits between the two countries. Iran effectively closed the strait in retaliation for being attacked by the United States and Israel in February.
That's something that the Trump administration has insisted on from the beginning: No lifting of sanctions until Iran commits to de-nuclearize, a deal they will keep no longer than absolutely necessary.
Earlier on Saturday, we reported on a possible deal between Iran and Oman on re-opening the Strait of Hormuz, and now, seemingly within moments, Iran fires out a list of demands that they have to know the United States will not agree to. Increasingly, as we also noted in that earlier report, it looks like Iran is trying to run out the clock. They know as well as we do that there is a critical midterm election coming in less than 90 days. They know as well as we do that if the Democrats gain a majority in the House of Representatives and/or the Senate, they will not only fire up the Impeach-a-Palooza but will do everything in their power to put an end to any efforts against Iran.
Here in the United States, we tend to think of history in terms of hundreds of years. In many other parts of the world, they think in terms of thousands of years. Once again, Iran is playing the long game. Whether they get away with it again remains to be seen.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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