President Donald Trump is adopting a wait-and-see approach with Iran, betting that economic collapse will force war concessions faster than bombs. His remarks come just days after the U.S. stepped back from the brink of renewed major combat operations in the region.
The stalled Strait of Hormuz deal will test Donald Trump’s shift from military escalation toward economic pressure
“We are low-keying it,” Donald Trump told Axios. “We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money.” The president painted a picture of a regime struggling to pay its troops and grappling with an economic crisis he says the U.S. naval blockade has made worse.
He also pointed to oil prices, now slightly above $75 a barrel, as evidence that American consumers are not yet feeling severe pain from the conflict. “It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game,” he said. Moreover, U.S. officials convinced Trump to de-escalate last week by arguing that a pause in combat would leave Iran alone with a shattered economy and no external enemy to blame. The strategy now faces an immediate test in the Strait of Hormuz.
An agreement between Iran, Oman and the United States would grant Tehran partial control over strait traffic for the first time. Qatari and Pakistani mediators expected to announce the deal last Wednesday. Instead, Iran introduced a new set of demands that threaten to derail it entirely. On Saturday, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, laid out sweeping new conditions.
He demanded that the U.S. permanently end all war against Iran and its allies in Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen and Iraq. He also required Washington to lift the naval blockade, withdraw military forces from around Iran, provide full compensation for war damages, remove all sanctions and release frozen Iranian funds. Until recently, Iran had tied these demands to a nuclear deal. Now it presents them simply to reopen the strait.
