Not good enough

US rejection Iran’s latest proposal keeps the world on tenterhooks

It is almost as if the world is witnessing a car accident, a collision between a truck and a car, say, in real time. US President Donals Trump’s rejection of the latest Iranian proposals have edged the USA and Iran closer to the point where they will have to engage in a second trial of strength. Incidentally, this would support the contention that this ceasefire was merely a time for both sides to rest and recuperate, and to replenish munitions and equipment. The problem is that US military power has not brought down the Iranian government, which means that Mr Trump has not been able to make Iran truckle under in a way that would allow him to crow (something he needs not just for himself psychologically, but because of the impending mid-term elections. The alternative to what he would see as the humiliation of accepting Iranian terms, is to allow the ceasefire to continue, and to break the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Indeed, the blockade by both Iran and the USA is about to destroy the world’s economies.

One solution would be for the USA not to take humiliation for itself, nor force it on Iran, leave the ceasefire in place, and let life go on under the shadow of the possibility of conflict breaking out once again. In fact, that seems to be behind the logic of saying that the Strait issue could be discussed first, and the nuclear issue could be left for future discussions. Going simply by logic, that makes sense. The closure of the Strait affects the whole world, while the Iranian nuclear programme does not conceivably affect the USA. It does possibly affect Israel. Because of US subservience to Israel, there is US insistence on something that does not affect itself nor the rest of the world.

Pakistan is doing its best to act as an honest broker in the matter, but it is itself experiencing some of the pain that the Hormuz Strait closure is inflicting on the rest of the world. Despite the April 27 raise by 100 basis points of the interest rate benchmark to 11.5 percent, the first raise by the Monetary Policy Committee of the State Bank of Pakistan since June 2023, inflation April inflation rate clocked in at 7.4 percent, the highest since August 2024. Pakistan would agree that The Hormuz Strait must be reopened, whatever happens to Iran’s nuclear programme.