60-day deadline of US-Iran peace deal ends today, global energy situation worrisome
New Delhi, Aug 17: With their energy import situation precariously poised, countries around the world, including India, are keenly watching as the 60-day deadline set under the deal between the US and Iran comes to an end today.
The deal, signed on June 17 by US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian outlined steps to be taken during the next 60 days for ending the war.
The deal, known as the Memorandum of Understanding, prescribed a halt to all military operations to enable the two countries to take steps towards ending the war and resolving the longstanding disputes.
It called for the Strait of Hormuz to be reopened but gave Iran a vaguely defined role in facilitating traffic, leaving open the possibility it could charge fees after the 60-day deadline.
Iran has seized on that clause to claim control over the waterway.
However, a week after the deal was signed, fighting erupted again as Iran fired at commercial vessels trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz and the US military restarted attacks on the Persian nation.
Iran retaliated by attacking American military assets in Gulf countries like Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain.
The US canceled waivers issued as part of the deal that had allowed Iran to sell its oil internationally and Trump restored a blockade of Iran’s ports.
Each side accused the other of violating the June agreement, of which almost nothing remains.
The fighting eventually died down.
Trump says the talks have continued, occasionally claiming progress after pulling back from threatening major strikes.
Earlier this month, Iran issued a list of demands for reopening the strait, including the lifting of the American blockade, the withdrawal of US forces from around Iran and the payment of reparations for damage inflicted in the war started by the US and Israel on Feb. 28.
Even then, Iran has said it would control the strait — and potentially charge fees — through an agreement it is negotiating with Oman, and that the strait will not go back to being an open, toll-free waterway as it was before the war.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have meanwhile begun attacking Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, threatening another crucial trade route that had been used to relieve some of the pressure from the strait being closed.
Trump has rejected Iran’s demands, saying it’s Tehran that should pay war reparations and claiming the US controls the strait.
Meanwhile, he urged American people to compromise with the rising prices of gasolene in view of the war.
Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which rose immediately after the interim deal, is back to a small fraction of what it was before the war.
Rising prices of fuel and other goods are expected to climb further the longer this continues with effects far beyond the Middle East.
The deadline was Monday, and the two sides are further apart than they were then.
There has been no sign of any compromise on the strait, or that detailed nuclear talks have even begun.
The US meanwhile, has no good options for getting out of the war it started alongside Israel.
Acceding to Iran’s latest demands would mean giving it control over a critical international waterway that carried a fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas before the war — and would be tantamount to admitting defeat.
Escalating the deeply unpopular war would further draw down US supplies of advanced missile interceptors, jolt the world economy, and drive up gas prices ahead of US congressional elections.
So both sides have dug in, hoping the other will blink first. So far, neither has.
Meanwhile, the world is worried. (BVI)
