There are multiple reasons for the failure of the US-Iran talks in Islamabad. If the reporting on US President Donald Trump’s Hormuz ambitions is even partly accurate — there are reasons to believe they are — the American insistence that Tehran agree to a “joint venture” with Washington to manage the Strait of Hormuz may have been one. Tehran’s refusal to abandon its nuclear programme could be another.

President Trump may have wanted to close a real estate deal on a waterway he has no business controlling, and that should be free for all nations. Given Trump’s inclinations, Hormuz may have been a bigger roadblock than Iran’s nuclear programme. To be clear, what Washington reportedly wanted from Iran was not merely the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which the whole world wants, but joint control of it.

Think of it as the Venezuela playbook customised for the Persian Gulf. In Caracas, US forces kidnapped the inconvenient leader, made a deal with what remained of President Nicolas Maduro’s regime, and got Venezuelan oil on terms it dictated. In Iran’s case, Khamenei was killed in the February strikes, along with much of the senior leadership in Tehran. The remaining Iranian State is currently the negotiating partner for Washington. What Washington wants is partial American control of the valve through which 20% of the world’s oil flows, which would effectively mean a permanent toll booth on the energy lifeline of India, China, Japan, South Korea, and even its allies in Europe.........

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