alistair crooke provides a bit of understanding on the iran war. iran has no reason or history to trust the empire in any way so things are getting interesting for the amazing president bigly; 

 

Beijing can fund itself cheaply and almost indefinitely – and thus can outlast the U.S. grand strategy to contain China.

Seemingly, every day brings breathless new claims that an U.S.-Iran ‘deal’ awaits only a signature. As so often happens, the mediators (Pakistanis and Qataris) hope to manage both sides by telling one side that the other party is at the brink of agreement when it is not so, especially in an atmosphere of total mistrust. By these means the mediators hope to push matters towards a final agreement. It is a familiar tactic, but one that quite often results in confusion and distrust – rather than the hoped-for settlement.

The ‘plan’ at this stage has only two central pillars: Iran’s ‘reopening’ of the Strait of Hormuz (on Iran’s terms) in return for the lifting of the U.S. naval blockade, and – at a later date – an understanding that the dilution of Iran’s 60% enriched uranium would be tackled in return for an end to sanctions.

To say the devil is in the detail would be the understatement of the year. Iran understands that Trump’s headliners of an ‘imminent deal’ are firstly, intended to keep the U.S. stock market up and oil futures trading well below that of the delivery price of physical oil. And secondly, to obfuscate that Trump may be seeking a plausible way to end the war via striking a quick, incomplete deal that would, in all likelihood, be largely on Iran’s terms.

All other issues – including the crucial detail of any nuclear agreement – would be deferred.

Trump wants from Iran an initial concession that he can hail as a visible win – and one that will please markets, too. But Iran will not trade its military leverage, and certainly not the strategic dominance that it achieved in the war, nor Hormuz, for fuzzy assurances from the mediators. Iran does not trust the U.S. one iota........more..........