The infamous “Memorandum of Understanding” between the United States and Iran has broken down. One of the major points of failure has been the disagreement over which side controls the Strait of Hormuz. 

Yesterday, President Donald Trump abruptly declared that his country should now be known as “THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT” and “as such, as a matter of fairness, will be reimbursed at the rate of 20 percent on all cargo shipped.”

“POTUS is absolutely right,” replied Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, on X. “Whoever provides secure and safe passage of commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz should be compensated for this service. Iran has always been the GUARDIAN of the Strait and will remain so FOREVER. 20 percent is of course too much. We will be fair.”

These two positions appear irreconcilable, and both sides are now firing at each other again. But there is potentially a bigger question in this war of bombs and words – a question neither negotiating side seems willing to address publicly. 

It is this: do Tehran’s official negotiators – chiefly Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament – actually represent or control the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps?

There is an apparent disconnect between what Iran’s diplomats are saying and what the IRGC’s gunboats and missile operators are doing. One interpretation is that the IRGC is a law unto........

© The Spectator