The tone of mainstream outlets is wild:
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On one hand, they cannot give Trump credit for de-escalating. Nor Iran. They just cannot do it.
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…Even though this is far from over.
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And on the other, they’re dancing around the the little detail that the US jumped into this for no reason, and ended in a worse position than we started, because Trump bailed on a better deal from his successor out of sheer spite.
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Giving Iran a good deal was Trump’s only option to end this and I am very glad he chose to do that.
Kennedy chose to escalate in Vietnam. Ditto Jonson and Nixon. Bush stared the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, then chose to do a “surge” in Iraq. Obama had a “surge” in Afghanistan if you remember.
The counter factual is not US got a good deal, but US started a catastrophic escalation that leads to tens or hundreds of thousands of deaths before the US agrees to a bad deal.
Obviously, attacking Iran in the first place was a blunder, but after that, TACO was the best deal America was ever going to get.
Yeah, I would say, “you have to hand it to him,” but you don’t get points for selecting the least-bad option for a situation you are entirely responsible for.
They could probably get free navigation in the straight, and get Iran to give up all nuke ambitions if they offered to disarm Israel.
Upon the signing of this M.O.U., the Islamic Republic of Iran will make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days only from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of Oman, and vice versa. The traffic of commercial vessels will immediately start, and considering the need for removing the technical and military obstacles and demining by the Islamic Republic of Iran, will be instated within 30 days. The Islamic Republic of Iran will conduct dialogue with the Sultanate of Oman to define the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz, in discussion with other Persian Gulf littoral states in line with the applicable international law and the sovereign rights of coastal states of the Strait of Hormuz.
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Literally saying Iran can charge tolls for any traffic thru the strait…
That’s a fucking huge amount of economic power, and everyone has to pay whatever they demand
It’s one they have to exercise judiciously. Too high a toll and you just encourage the building of pipelines to get the oil out by land.
in line with the applicable international law
International law doesn’t allow taking tolls on natural waterways that are international trade routes I’m pretty sure.
The Islamic Republic of Iran will conduct dialogue with the Sultanate of Oman to define the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz, in discussion with other Persian Gulf littoral states in line with the applicable international law and the sovereign rights of coastal states of the Strait of Hormuz.
That part just means they have to talk about it…
Like if I walked up to you and said I wanted your house. You 100% can say no, but we just had a dialogue about it
That meets the obligation
NYT reporting this
Mr. Trump has said the passageway must be “permanently toll-free.” But Iran has said it plans to charge “fees” in exchange for unspecified “services” it provides there.
So definitely not a toll some other fee for providing some unspecified service…lol
I can imagine the invoice.
Item Service Fee 1 Unspecified US$1,000,000“We’ve filled the strait with a hundred thousands autonomous smart drones programmed to blow up any vessel they see. However, we’ll rent you this encrypted transponder that will keep the drones away. We’re not charging a toll. We’re just offering our anti-drone services for a reasonable fee. We won’t force you to pay it, you’re perfectly free to try your luck in the Strait.”
Possibly an ‘I won’t bloat up your dumb boat’ fee.
Possibly some form of insurance. “Be a real shame if someone were to lob a drone at your big, slow, expensive oil tanker…”
