A quick summary of events from the past day:
Iran announces end to military operations against IsraelHowever, Israel maintains that this does not mean the end of attacks against HezbollahIran continues to report “major obstacles” in agreeing to a dealIran officials maintain that US is not showing “sufficient commitment” to work things outTrump says that a deal is still in the offingUS helicopter confirmed to have been shot down in Strait of Hormuz; pilots are fineUS to issue report on the incident later todayTrump says that “total victory” to come over “the next two weeks”Trump reaffirms that Iran’s economy is struggling and naval blockade will pressure them into a deal
To put things short, the only notable development was that we saw a US helicopter get shot down in the Strait of Hormuz. As for everything else, they have been what we have seen or heard before in recent weeks or since the start of the conflict. Essentially, it is basically this:
Israel does not agree to ceasefire in southern LebanonIran refutes the notion that a framework agreement is “imminent”Iran does not want to make any baseline promises on nuclear/uranium, wants US to lift sanctionsUS not lifting its naval blockade and maintains that a deal will come sooner rather than later
All of that are pretty much the key red lines that both sides need to agree to in order to proceed to the next step. And yet, they can’t even agree on any of that – let alone all of it together. A reminder that with regards to the deal, nothing can be agreed until everything is agreed upon.
And so, the stalemate looks set to continue for yet another week it would seem.
This article was written by Justin Low at investinglive.com.