Iran and U.S. Settle Into an Uneasy Standoff

“They are not seriously negotiating, nor are they shooting at each other. Instead, Iran and the United States have settled into an uneasy, in-between state that risks either a return to fighting or a hardening stalemate,” the New York Times reports.

“At the core of this unresolved status are calculations, perhaps miscalculations, by each side.”

“Iranian officials believe they have more to gain from withstanding U.S. economic pressure and maintaining control over the Strait of Hormuz than they do from making major concessions in a negotiated deal, analysts said. And the United States appears to be betting that putting Iran in a tighter economic stranglehold will succeed where military strikes have not.”

ABC News: Trump appears to have dropped his tit-for-tat approach to Iran attacks in the Strait of Hormuz.