Iran is using control of the Strait of Hormuz and a broad set of demands (end of threats and military action, troop withdrawals, compensation, full sanctions relief and unfreezing of assets) to force the United States into negotiations on Tehran’s terms.

U.S. military strikes have damaged facilities and leadership but failed to collapse the Iranian state or eliminate its asymmetric capabilities, while prolonged disruption of energy markets and regional infrastructure has imposed political and economic costs on Washington and its partners.

The conflict has left Iran with greater bargaining leverage than expected; any durable settlement is likely to require recognition of Iranian sovereignty and substantial sanctions relief rather than unilateral American diktats.

Iran is now tightening the screws on President Donald Trump as he seeks to avoid a self-inflicted debacle in the United States war against Iran. According to the country’s state-run IRNA news agency, Mohammad Baqer Zulqader, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, “until America corrects its behavior, The Strait of Hormuz will not open.”

Allowing the Strait to reopen peacefully and on its own terms is just the first corrective measure Iran is insisting on.

Zulqader said that the U.S. must stop threatening Iran and insulting what he described as the country’s sanctities, end military action against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Yemen and Iraq, and lift the naval blockade.

His demands also call for U.S. sea and air forces to withdraw from Iran, compensation for damages from two wars, the removal of sanctions against Iran and the unconditional release of frozen Iranian assets.

Trump’s Diminished Options 

Even before the pronouncement of this list of latest Iranian demands, critics of America’s  Iran policy have noted that Trump’s aggressive “maximum pressure” strategy and military intervention produced temporary euphoria but has been a strategic and political trap rather than a swift, decisive victory. 

They may be too kind. This trap could well result in the biggest geopolitical setback for the United States for this........

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