The United States and Iran appear to have reached an agreement, which could see the Strait of Hormuz reopened and put an end to the two nations’ exchange of fire.
The US announced that a peace deal with Iran ‘is now complete,’ with the Strait set to be reopened without tolls.
While Trump has bragged about ending months of blockades on the vital waterway, questions linger about Tehran’s nuclear plans and wider security in the Gulf.
Dr Katayoun Shahandeh from the University of London told Metro that calling this agreement a peace deal is ambitious – at best, she says, it’s a ‘temporary pause with diplomatic ambitions’.
She added: ‘This is extremely fragile because the hardest questions have not been resolved. Iran’s nuclear programme, sanctions relief, regional security, Israel’s role, and the question of who can give credible guarantees have all effectively been postponed rather than settled.
‘Trump has claimed to be close to a deal with Iran so many times that “nearly there” has become part of the theatre. Repetition is not the same as progress, and announcement is not the same as diplomacy.’
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There are other unanswered questions about the future of the Gulf Region after Israel’s renewed strikes on Lebanon, with militarisation and sanctions creating more instability.
Dr Shahandeh added: ‘The greatest losers are ordinary Iranians. They are asked to pay the price for sanctions, military escalation, state repression, currency collapse, isolation, and geopolitical bargaining, while the men who make these decisions rarely bear the consequences.’
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