The Dummy of the Deal

Iran issues tough demands to reopen Strait of Hormuz as deal still out of reach

Tehran urges US to ‘correct its behaviour’.Sat 8 Aug 2026 17.01 EDT

Iran has issued tough new demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, as a deal to open the strategic waterway remained out of reach on Saturday.

Iran’s said the Strait of Hormuz will not open until the United States “corrects its behaviour”.

Here are their demands, to which we must agree thanks to Trump.

1. The US must never threaten Iran again
2. End the war with Iran and its armed allies in the region.
3. The US must lift the naval blockade of Iranian ports
4. Withdraw its military from the area.
5. It also must “completely compensate” Iran for war damage,
6. Lift sanctions
7. Unconditionally release frozen assets.

This humiliation is what Donald Trump will claim is a “victory.” Thank you, Donald. Thank you, MAGAs.

The Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Saturday that they were close to reaching an agreement on navigation. But the waterway’s reopening is contingent on other conditions, he said, and blamed the situation on what he called the US violation of the interim deal.

It’s not just Iran. No one in the world trusts a deal with the United States under Trump, because he repeatedly feels free to break any deal he makes. Unfortunately, this reflects on you and me, as our America may have become the world’s least trusted nation.

Think about it; would you trust any deal made with Donald Trump?

Iran has imposed an effective blockade of the strait and wants to charge users for passage. The US opposes any Iranian tolls in the strait. The 60-day period to negotiate a final deal will end in just over a week but could be extended.

Iran has said it was close to reaching a separate deal with Oman to manage the strait. Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian said he believed now was the best time for an agreement. “There is cohesion, strength, and unity in the country, and as far as I know, Iran is considered victorious and powerful in this war.” 

Of course, they won. When Trump fired his most experienced military leaders and declared, “I know more than the generals,” and then hired a clueless TV commentator from Fox News to lead the military, he assured we would lose. 

Think about it. The people Trump fired spent years at West Point learning strategy, tactics, weaponry, logistics, combat history and manpower usage — and many more years in active service, climbing the ranks, and learning, learning, learning — but then Trump hires a boob who has zero experience and who thinks firing knowledgeable, experienced women and gays is the way to build an army — that and doing muscle-building exercises that he himself embarrassingly was unable to do.

And let us not forget the abject cowardice of the completely useless Republicans in Congress (why are they even there?), compounded by the lies and criminality of such as Clarence (my wife loves Trump) Thomas, Samuel (mine, too) Alito, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh. They have managed to turn the once most respected branch of government and the most powerful nation in the world into a larger version of a jungle dictatorship. 

So now, America watches helplessly as China assumes world leadership, while cowards, clowns and criminals build monuments to Trump and name streets and airports after him.

Continued attacks in the strait, which was free to sail through before the war, led to the collapse of an April ceasefire.

Yes, it’s hard to remember, but we actually had a working deal with Iran.

Known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, the deal followed two years of negotiations. Then-President Barack Obama, who campaigned on resolving the Iranian nuclear threat, called the issue the “most consequential foreign policy debate that our country has had since the invasion of Iraq.”

That agreement took several years to negotiate with the input from nuclear experts. Even though independent inspections confirmed that Iran stuck to its side of the agreement in the following years, Trump described it as a “terrible deal”, but did not give specific details about what he disliked about it.

Two years after the deal went into effect, President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear accord, in one of the most significant foreign policy actions during his first term as president.

Why did he do it? One reason only: It was negotiated by President Barack Obama, and Trump was determined to erase everything related to Obama and replace it with things named “Trump.”

Well, he accomplished that. Now we have the Trump Iranian War loss, the Trump Inflation, the Trump Deportation of good, honest, valuable families and workers, the Trump tariffs, the Trump murders of Americans by ICE, the Trump Election denials, the Trump anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-birthright, anti-woman, anti-vaccination, anti-poor, anti-non-Christian crusades, the Trump gerrymandering, the Trump tax cuts for the rich,  the Trump nepotism and insider dealing, the Trump felony convictions, the Trump impeachments, the Trump overpriced no-bid reflecting pool, ballroom and triumphal arch (perhaps to commemorate the Iran war).

The strait, which is crucial to global supplies of oil and natural gas, had been considered an international waterway before the war.

While Iranian officials since the 1979 Islamic revolution have never trusted the US, that animus is now also directed personally towards Trump. He not only tore up the painfully negotiated nuclear deal in 2018, but he sanctioned the assassination of the military leader Qassem Suleimani and twice involved Iran in negotiations on its nuclear program only to launch wars against it. 

Just as Trump cannot resolve from one sentence to the next what he thinks of Iran, nor can Iran agree what it thinks it can get from America.

Now, Trump has squandered whatever leverage we had over Iran. They have proved they have nothing to fear from America. We pummeled them with everything we had, and they are still standing, and able to make demands on us. We have run short of ammunition.

Trump’s approval rating has shrunk to 36%, which I find amazing. How could 36% of Americans still approve of him as President or even as a person? Are there that many people stunted with MAGA brains??

That is the real question Americans must answer now, so that it never happens again.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

PS: What if we were to agree to turn Trump over to the Iranians, to do what they want with him. Would they allow us to use the Strait, again? Just a thought.