[In a report posted](www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/trump-strait-of-hormuz-opening-iran-negotiations-b6a43ad6?mod=hp_lead_pos1) early yesterday, The Wall Street Journal claimed that President Trump had for weeks been laying the groundwork for in effect declaring victory and walking away from the Iran war, including even his nuclear demands, if Iran fully reopened the Strait of Hormuz. “But that scaled-back objective became more difficult when Iran insisted Saturday on its highest price yet for permitting the free flow of traffic in the waterway, seeking billions of dollars in U.S. payments, the removal of American troops from the region and an end of the U.S. naval blockade, among other things,” WSJ reported, referring to the demands made by then-secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Mohammad Zolghadr only hours before the Journal report appeared. “This rapid chain of events suggests Trump’s options for walking away from the conflict have again narrowed. Trump has repeatedly threatened—and then backed away from—a massive escalation of its bombing campaign. But the recent chaos in negotiations signaled Tehran is prepared for a long and grinding conflict.”
“Iran’s ability to essentially choke off the waterway through sporadic missile and drone attacks has proven to be powerful leverage for the country, stalling commercial traffic and roiling global oil markets. Trump has declared repeatedly in recent weeks that the Strait of Hormuz was already fully open, but each of those promises has proven premature,” the Journal added. “Now, with less than three months until the midterm elections and the price of gasoline still much higher than it was before the war started in late February, Trump has been looking for ways to tell the American public that the war is won.”
