Iran will not give up the Strait of Hormuz, its “new nuclear weapon,” an analyst told CBS News on Wednesday.
Shortly after President Trump declared that he believed the U.S.-Iran ceasefire was “over,” Aaron David Miller, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment and former State Department adviser on Arab-Israeli negotiations, said: “Iran will not give up its new nuclear weapon, the Strait of Hormuz, which provides leverage and control over a chokepoint that carries 20% of the world’s daily oil supply.”
The dramatic conflict between the two countries began this week with an attack on three merchant ships in the Strait of Hormuz by Iran, which, in coordination with its maritime authorities, had demanded that all ships pass through the waterway. The US wants the strait to be freely accessible to all ships, as it was before the war that the US and Israel jointly started on February 28.
The memorandum of understanding between the two countries in mid-June called for a period of 60 days to negotiate a final peace agreement, including a resolution to the situation in Hormuz.
“I think this had more to do with a galaxy far, far away than with reality on the planet,” Miller said of the proposed timeline.
“A flawed military campaign leads to a flawed memorandum of understanding and a flawed implementation process,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump, who on Wednesday called the Iranian leadership “scum,” “cuckoo” and “cancer,” “cannot leave this conflict completely humiliated if none of his goals have been achieved,” Miller said. “I think it will be very difficult for him to just walk away.”
