With safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz still under a cloud of uncertainty, the fate of a vital chunk of global trade lies in limbo. Peace talks between the US and Iran ended over the weekend with a gulf between the two sides on multiple issues, particularly Tehran’s stockpile of uranium and its clamp on the strait.
Tehran, it seems, refused to cede its assertion of sovereignty over this shipping lane, while accepting it would have marked an obvious defeat for America, its war having caused this problem in the first place.
The US Pentagon has claimed that two of its military vessels crossed the strait to clear it of mines, but Tehran, which might also have deployed underwater drones on patrol, dismissed that claim as false. The only safe way in and out of the Gulf seems to involve hugging Iran’s coastline, a route many cargo carriers have taken with its approval.
Before the Islamabad Talks, the US had signalled a will to forcibly take control of Hormuz, and it seems ready to dare it. Daredevilry makes for poor strategy, though. More talks would’ve been the ideal way forward. But since US military action now appears imminent, the world might have to bear even more economic hardship.