In Houston on Friday, President Donald Trump stands in front of the Artemis II crew to honor their 10-day trip around the moon. Half a world away, the U.S.-Israel war against Iran hits six months, and it is unclear whether he will say anything about it.
He has also said he is in no rush to end it. “I’m not in a hurry. I have no time schedule at all…whatever it takes,” he told Al Jazeera on Wednesday. On Thursday, talking to reporters, he was blunter about Iran’s rulers: “We don’t want to speak to them. We’re not looking to meet or anything.”
Trump repeatedly told Americans the war would be a “little excursion” lasting weeks. It has so far cost the United States more than $37.5 billion, and the damage to Trump’s standing comes ahead of November elections for his party.
The scene in the strait
Few tankers are willing to run the Strait of Hormuz now. Trump says it is open and that 24 vessels went through on Wednesday. Before the war the count was about 130 a day. Iran has used its own strikes there as leverage, and another oil tanker was reportedly hit this week.
Qatar’s prime minister flew into Tehran on Thursday to talk about an Iran-Oman plan to get more ships moving. Qatar and Pakistan are both pressing the two sides for a way out. A preliminary deal in June, meant to reopen the strait and start nuclear talks, collapsed within weeks when Iran began attacking ships.
Trump says the blockade is working. “We have control and we have the blockade,” he said. “Iran is not getting anything. Nothing is going through.”
Voices from the debate
Iranian officials say the country has lost $270 billion in direct and indirect damage. Israeli strikes early in the war killed Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and gutted much of the government’s leadership.
Aarathi Krishnan, a risk analyst at RAKSHA Intelligence Future, says Iran has been hurt badly but has a long record of absorbing sanctions. “This administration has completely underestimated the Iranian resolve,” she said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who backs the pressure campaign, had a flatter view of diplomacy. “I tell you, an agreement cannot be reached,” he said.
Richard Goldberg, who advised on Iran at the National Security Council in Trump’s first term, thinks the administration should go further and “seal off every escape hatch the regime has left.” Trump has hinted he may already be doing so. Asked why he had not sanctioned Chinese banks, he said: “I don’t have to announce everything, do I?”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, has accused the U.S. of “systemic bullying.”
Sources
- Trump says he’s ‘not in a hurry’ to end Iran war
- Trump Says He’s ‘Not in a Hurry’ for Iran Talks—Says US ‘Winning Very Big’ as Conflict Drags On
