Iran’s supreme leader is dead. Much of its military infrastructure is destroyed. Its allies are alienated. But the war against Israel and the U.S. has given Tehran something it might not have otherwise appreciated: the unprecedented leverage it holds over the Strait of Hormuz. Now, Iran is trying to milk it.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the hardline military force that has consolidated power within what remains of the Iranian regime following Khamenei’s death, has communicated a list of cease-fire conditions to the Trump administration, according to the Wall Street Journal. The two sides aren’t in direct contact, and the Journal reported that these conditions were sent through Middle Eastern intermediaries, though the U.S.’s recent fifteen-point-plan was sent through Pakistan. President Donald Trump, the “master of the deal” who has championed his ability to jawbone other nations through tariffs, has now insisted that his administration has been in fruitful negotiations with Iran, a claim Tehran has mocked by asking if the President was talking to himself.
