The U.S.-Iranian war has taken on a strange rhythm. Several times, often just before the end of the trading day or weekend, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Iran is about to fold and the war will be over soon. Billions of dollars through markets moved as traders bet that oil prices would fall and stock prices would rise. Then they came into work the next business day to discover that the war was still happening.
The latest iteration happened this week when Trump claimed to have held "very strong talks" with Iran, setting a five-day deadline for an agreement. He then hinted at a planned peace summit in Pakistan. Iran publicly rejected both a U.S. peace proposal and the very idea of direct talks. An Iranian official told Al Jazeera that Trump's opening offer, sent through Pakistani middlemen, was "unreasonable" and nothing like the media leaks from the American side suggested.
