Pakistan moved quickly after the collapse of U.S.-Iran nuclear talks to arrange a follow-up meeting on their soil. The effort went nowhere, as the United States is not currently prepared to schedule another round of negotiations, according to a report by Yisrael Hayom.
Washington’s position is straightforward: Iran agreed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as a condition of the ceasefire, and it didn’t. Until that changes, the Americans see little reason to return to the table.
Senior Trump administration officials are discussing the possibility of an eventual meeting in Geneva or Islamabad, CNN reported, but discussion is a long way from a date on the calendar. For now, the U.S. intends to let the blockade do its work.
The pressure building on Tehran gives Washington reason to wait. Iran’s foreign currency reserves have been nearly exhausted, according to intelligence reaching the U.S., Israel and Gulf states. Triple-digit inflation, surging unemployment and a collapsing currency have left the country’s civilian government issuing daily alarms. Iran’s Finance Ministry and central bank are sending President Masoud Pezeshkian regular warnings that the country will struggle to recover even if the war ends now.
Central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati, who participated in the Islamabad talks, told negotiators plainly that without immediate sanctions relief and the release of frozen assets, large parts of Iran’s population face the danger of hunger. Opposition-linked Iran International reported that Hemmati has warned Pezeshkian that inflation could reach 180 percent and unemployment could grow by another two million if conditions continue.
The Americans said they were prepared to release frozen funds, provided the money went toward civilian needs. The offer went nowhere, swamped by the broader impasse over Iran’s nuclear program and its refusal to reopen Hormuz.
U.S. and regional officials believe time is on Washington’s side. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, whose commanders torpedoed the Pakistan talks by blocking Iran’s civilian negotiators from making any concessions without an immediate sanctions return, are facing their own financial reckoning. The Guards’ sprawling commercial empire — spanning oil exports, mining, aviation, pharmaceuticals and heavy industry — has largely ceased operating under the weight of sanctions and the blockade, with only oil exports continuing at any meaningful scale. Frozen accounts have cut directly into the personal wealth of the corps’ senior leadership.
The officials assess that Iran’s political leadership will eventually be forced to pressure the Guards to re-engage with Washington, simply because the alternative — an extended Hormuz closure on top of an already devastated economy — is not survivable.
Until that moment arrives, Washington appears content to hold its position and let the blockade speak for itself.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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One Response
The biggest loser from a blockade of Iran is China. Russia benefits from the higher price of oil, and Russia has no shortage of oil. Both Russia and China have serious grievances against the western countries (China wants Taiwan back, which they lost to Japan in the 19th century, Russia wants to control former territories in eastern Europe which they lost with the collapse of the Soviet Union) and maybe tempted (by Trump’s lack of national unity and his horrific relations with America’s allies) to try to nibble a bit on neighbors.
Just think about the summer of 1914.