Why Trump rejected Iran’s seven-day Hormuz proposal: Analysis

Ross Harrison, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and author of Decoding Iran’s Foreign Policy, says Iran likely expected President Donald Trump to reject its seven-day proposal, since it largely repackages the framework agreed by Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron in a June memorandum of understanding that Washington later tried to undermine.

Harrison says Iran’s goal was less about winning US approval than showing its own public, and the American public, a willingness to negotiate. He sees a possible concession in language suggesting the Strait of Hormuz could reopen without ships needing to coordinate with Tehran, a key sticking point that helped collapse the original deal, but says Iran is also working to secure a post-war toll structure with Gulf Arab states.

The US, Harrison says, believes it got a bad deal in June and is betting economic pressure will pay off given time, with Trump’s aides reportedly signalling a status quo until after the US midterm elections, followed possibly by military action against Iran.

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Source: Al Jazeera (video)