Washington is developing new war plans in case diplomacy with Iran fails. Meanwhile, the White House announces the turning point in Lebanon
While the diplomatic initiative with Iran currently remains uphill, Donald Trump is keeping the military option on the table. According to CNN, the United States is developing new plans to strike Tehran’s military capabilities in the Strait of Hormuz. In particular, the newspaper reported that such war operations could be conducted if talks between Washington and the Islamic Republic were to definitively fail. Moreover, already on Thursday the American president had instructed the US Navy to “destroy” the Iranian minelaying ships active in the Strait of Hormuz. American sources have in fact reported to Axios that, in recent days, the Pasdaran have continued to mine the area.
For the moment, the diplomatic process remains stalled. Trump has extended the ceasefire with Tehran indefinitely, although a White House official said the extension would only last a few days. On the other hand, the Khomeinist regime remains internally split between a wing that talks and one that, linked to the Revolutionary Guards, does not want to know about an agreement with Washington. The president of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, is struggling to find a synthesis between these two opposing demands. Nonetheless, at least so far, the regime has appeared anything but compact.
It will be necessary to understand whether the Lebanese turning point will have a positive impact on Iranian diplomacy. On Thursday, Trump announced that Beirut and Jerusalem would extend their ceasefire for three weeks. “The United States will work with Lebanon to help it protect itself from Hezbollah. The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon will be extended for three weeks. I look forward to soon hosting the Prime Minister of Israel, Bibi Netanyahu, and the President of Lebanon, Joseph Aoun,” the White House resident declared on Truth.
Tehran famously linked the Lebanese issue to the diplomatic process with Washington. On the other hand, the Iranians have made the lifting of the blockade decreed by Trump on the ports of the Islamic Republic as a condition for the resumption of talks with the USA. A blockade that the American president however wants to leave in force as an instrument of negotiating pressure on the ayatollahs. Ayatollah who, for their part, continue to keep Hormuz closed, irritating the White House. It is on these points that Pakistan is currently working, to try to relaunch negotiations between the belligerents. Will he succeed?
