Iran has announced it is closing the Strait of Hormuz over what it says are Israeli ceasefire violations in Lebanon. The renewed fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has exposed the central weakness of the new US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MoU). The agreement was never really about the Strait of Hormuz alone. It was a broader attempt to freeze multiple conflicts at once, including the Lebanon front.
Now, only days after the deal promised relief for global energy markets and a pathway toward wider negotiations, Israel-Hezbollah clashes in Lebanon have pushed the arrangement into its first major crisis. Iran's announcement that it is closing the Strait of Hormuz while still sending negotiators to Switzerland suggests that Tehran is not yet abandoning the deal. Instead, it appears to be testing how much pressure it can exert on Washington before the next phase of negotiations begins.
-copy-29e15046.jpeg?w=600)
