US - Iran Peace agreement Part 3

I do like to see how propaganda works.
I don't want to derail the thread but in this case consider it similar to advertising and how words and images are used to persuade/control the intended audience.

It will be a test for the insurance for sure. If they are using that water under US instruction, then that might come down to Trumps insurance plan he announced at the start.

Cool. I don't see it myself. Likely I need to see it in context to get the propaganda from it.

I do like to see how propaganda works. And Trump and his WH are just really really bad at it.

He can't get a consistent narrative out. Indeed, he can barely do a sentence or paragraph without a contradiction.

He keeps saying "no nukes", but I don't think it is consistent with the weight he puts on it. And where are his articles about what happens if they have nukes etc.

I'm surprised an incident like this has not occurred sooner given Oman's shallower waters.

Oman has confirmed an oil spill took place in the Sultanate's waters after a ship ran aground at its Al Hallaniyat Islands in the Dhofar Governorate, with work ongoing to limit its spread.

On August 6, the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology and the Environment Authority, had revealed that the 'Caroline Bezengi' oil tanker hit the bottom and got stuck in the area.

The vessel is a crude oil tanker, sailing under the flag of Cameroon, according to Marine Traffic, and is reportedly 274.48 metres in length and 48 metres wide.

The grounding and oil spill threaten the island's rich marine life and natural ecosystem, with efforts underway to protect the environment and ensure safe navigation.

It's the change in focus @RedTagAlan
For example, saying "Trump, POTUS" presents a very different viewpoint from "Trump, the paedophile". Logic has nothing to do with it. It's the power of using the right words to paint a picture.
It's also propaganda 101.

You've actually hit the nail on the head when you wrote "at the moment".

Logic, poetry and hyperbole aren’t mutually exclusive. John Donne’s The Flea is a masterclass.

You're being too logical for those that want to talk poetry and hyperbole.

It is poetic linguistically and in keeping with the civilization that invented Algebra and Chess.

13th Century Iranian poet Rumi on War and warmongers:

Man, man, man,
what kind of lightning are you, setting farms on fire?
What kind of cloud are you, raining down stones?

What kind of hunter?
Caught in your own trap—
a thief stealing from your own house.

You’re sixty years old, you’re seventy years old,
and you’re still uncooked?
Still won’t let Love’s flames near,
won’t let them burn you up?

Enthralled by stuff and status,
the crown, the turban, the king’s beard—
thorns pricking your hands,

but where is your flower?

Gazing in the mirror,
you tilt your hat like a crescent moon—
but where is your light?"
Translated by Liza Gafori: Water

From Syria to UAE, the race to bypass Strait of Hormuz is on

The Middle East is entering a pipeline-building boom from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Oman, as Arab oil producers rush to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran is fighting to exert its dominance over global energy flows.

Tens of billions of dollars will be spent in the coming years to bypass the chokepoint where the US and Iran are battling for control, experts say. And while the Middle East has a recent history of grandiose infrastructure projects that fizzle out, this time the commitments to rewire the flow of oil are real.

“When we speak to our customers in the region, they say they never want to deal with this again,” Artem Abramov, the deputy head of analysis at Rystad Energy, told Middle East Eye.

“These bypass projects will move forward.”

The UAE is building a second pipeline to the port of Fujairah to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, doubling its export capacity by 2027.

Meanwhile, Iraq - the second-largest producer in the oil cartel Opec - signed a deal with Syria in July to rehabilitate a pipeline from its northern oil fields to Syria’s Mediterranean coast. MEE was the first to reveal the project and its US backing.

Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline has emerged as the model for the region. It brings crude from the Gulf coast to the kingdom's Red Sea. Riyadh is also eyeing ways to boost its capacity, further diluting its reliance on the Strait of Hormuz.

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company is also mulling a third pipeline that could transport refined petroleum products like jet fuel, gasoline and diesel to Fujairah, the company’s vice president said last month.

“The region has a track record of building these large infrastructure projects fast,” Abramov, at Rystad Energy, told MEE.

“They don’t always require pure economic rationale,” he added.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/from-syria-to-uae-race-to-bypass-strait-of-hormuz-is-on

But the SoH is both surely. It is a geographical marine feature with shipping lanes, and it happens to be a theater of war too at the moment ?

😂

No need to apologise. I studied Language/Linguistics, so it was obvious to me.
It's the difference between the matter of fact 'shipping lane' and the emotive context of 'theatre of war'.
No word is ever a 100% replacement for another. In this case the word choices of the user point the reader/listener to the context they want to make prominent. That it is primarily a war, and not commercial matter.

The multibillion-pound scramble to bypass the Strait of Hormuz

After more than four months of closures and attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, the shipping industry has finally accepted it can no longer rely on the crucial trade artery.

As a fresh barrage of US air strikes rains down on Iran, shipping bosses are drawing up plans to bypass the waterway and rob Iran of its ability to hold the world to ransom.

Companies are preparing to spend billions of pounds constructing new ports near the mouth of the 22-mile-wide waterway. They aim to safeguard trade links to the Gulf by allowing ships to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and unload cargo earlier. Hundreds of miles of new oil pipelines are planned with the same aim.

“We are looking at generational levels of investment in resilience, diversification and the mitigation of risk,” says Richard Meade, editor-in-chief at Lloyd’s List, the 290-year-old industry publication regarded as the shipping bible.

“We’ve seen it in the pipeline proposals, we’re now seeing it with these container plans, and I think that this will be just the start.”

Meade says the conflict has led to the implementation of plans that had been under consideration for years.

“The closure of the strait has always been on everybody’s risk list, but it was seen as an outlier that would hurt Iran as much as everyone else.

“Now that Tehran understands that the strait is its greatest political leverage, plans that have been floating around for decades have been supercharged. Everybody knows that if they can shut the strait once, they can do it again.”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/07/24/the-multibillion-pound-scramble-bypass-strait-of-hormuz/

Still, I'm sure that weaponizing the Strait of Hormuz was a brilliant militarily tactical move and hasn't harmed the Iranian economy at all or led other countries to explore ways of bypassing the SoH in future.

Iran has shown “51 years of bad behaviour,” Trump says on Truth Social.

He has also shared a chart showing the plunging value of the Iranian rial between 2025 and now. The chart was titled “Iran has no money”, with the text “currency is trash” on it.

The chart shows the Iranian Rial = $1.11 in Q1 2025 and $0.53 in Q3 2026

Trump meanwhile has said the US is "low-keying it" with Iran as talks appear to have stalled.

"We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money," he told Axios.

The US military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) says it has redirected 55 commercial vessels as part of its naval blockade on Iran.

That is two more than the 53 vessels it reported having redirected yesterday.
It said more than 20 US warships were now deployed to the Middle East supporting military missions, including strict enforcement of the blockade.

I don't get it sorry.

'Theatre of war' is a standard phrase.

For centuries, Persia has been reknown for its culture and learning. Modern day Iran now choosing to call the Strait of Hormuz a 'theatre of war' is a brilliant linguistic and militarily tactical move.

Now, as it's quoted, the first thing that will come to mind will be who made it so.

Iran must be sensing blood in the water as they have escalated their demands,
Further diplomatic efforts will be needed to grind out a deal acceptable to both parties

Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz would not be reopened until the United States accepts Tehran's demands.
Guards spokesman Hossein Mohebi said Iran's strategy was to keep control of the waterway until its conditions were accepted, describing the strait as a "theatre of war" rather than simply a shipping route.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council also issued a list of demands, saying the US must permanently end military action against Iran and its regional allies.
Tehran is also demanding:
An end to threats of further US military action.
The lifting of sanctions.
The withdrawal of US forces from the region.
An end to the naval blockade of Iranian ports.
Compensation for war-related damage.
The unconditional release of frozen Iranian assets.

The demands could make an agreement on the waterway harder to reach, even as Oman continues its mediation efforts.
(Gulf News)

This was in the Washington Post:

“WASHINGTON—For weeks, President Trump had been laying the groundwork to declare victory in the Iran war should Tehran fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even floating the idea privately to senior aides that he’s willing to walk away without a nuclear deal, U.S. officials said.
But that scaled-back objective became more difficult when Iran insisted Saturday on its highest price yet for permitting the free flow of traffic in the waterway, seeking billions of dollars in U.S. payments, the removal of American troops from the region and an end of the U.S. naval blockade, among other things. ”
“This rapid chain of events suggests Trump’s options for walking away from the conflict have again narrowed. Trump has repeatedly threatened—and then backed away from—a massive escalation of its bombing campaign. But the recent chaos in negotiations signaled Tehran is prepared for a long and grinding conflict.
“Iran’s recent hardline demands for reopening the strait make it increasingly difficult for the president to manufacture a face-saving off-ramp from the conflict,” said Mona Yacoubian, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.
Gregory Brew, an Iran expert at the Eurasia Group consulting firm, said, “The Iranians fully believe Trump wants out and is focused on opening the strait, which is why they are playing hardball.””

Excerpt From
“Trump Thought Opening the Strait of Hormuz Was Imminent. Iran Had Other Plans.”
Alexander Ward
The Wall Street Journal
https://apple.news/AoyG7-cyMR8iTf4ZzZeD6GQ
This material may be protected by copyright.

Worse, The US actively formented and encouraged the uprisings, including arming the Kurds, knowing full well that if it went wrong or failed to suceed these people would die. However that was a price America and others were happy to let them pay.

It's standard operating procedure, historically America has done it several times in order to effect regime change or when their convenient allies are no longer useful as happened to Diem in South Vietnam in the 1950 & 60s. America offered him staunch financial and military backing as an Anti-communist ally, ignoring his brutal repression of the Buddhist majority. When Diem was no longer a useful ally America shifted to active complicity in his violent overthrow, by greenlighting and funding his removal, resulting in Diem's assassination.

Ironically due to the law of unintended consequences, this action by America triggered severe political instability in Saigon, worsening the war effort against the communist insurgency, and ultimately forced the US to deploy direct combat troops to prevent a total collapse. Leading to the most unpopular (until Iran) War in American history.

More unintended consequences of Trump and Bibi's war. This time, a positive for the world.

How new petrostates are cashing in on the post-Hormuz era
Smaller nations with huge reserves are offering safe routes to plug the gap left by the Iran war, upending relationships that power the world

Drill, bai, drill!” As they say in Guyanese Creole.
Think of oil-producing countries and most of us will not name this South American nation with a population of just 840,000. However, Guyana produces almost a million barrels of oil per day (bpd) and is among a host of countries the world is turning to for a reliable supply of energy, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
The map of oil flow is changing. Guyana is among countries in the Americas, Africa and elsewhere trying to fill the gaps caused by the war in the Gulf. Aware that we may be in a time of constant tension with Iran, the Gulf states are accelerating plans to bypass the Strait with pipelines. If successful, the narrow gap at Hormuz will no longer be Tehran’s “geographic nuclear bomb”. Instead, it will have been the catalyst for ensuring routes are safer and diversified.

...
Even combined, the figures above are dwarfed by the giants of fossil fuels in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia has reserves of 267 billion, the UAE 113 billion, Iran 209 billion, and Iraq 145 billion. However, the oil producers in the Americas and Africa have something they do not – open, safe access to the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Tankers leaving Vancouver, Argentina’s Puerto Rosales or Tanzania’s Port of Tanga are not likely to be hit by missiles or drones, nor confined to dock for months.

...
The main Asian customers for Africa’s oil are China, India and Japan. All three moved quickly this year as the race to find alternatives to the Gulf gathered pace. Many European nations are big buyers; indeed, the EU imports roughly 20 per cent of its oil from Africa, more than double the amount sourced from the Gulf.

...
The crisis is not over, but the search for alternatives to supplies from the Gulf is well under way.

Iran Says U.S. Must Meet Demands Before Strait Of Hormuz Reopens

Demands from Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, were published by Iranian media Saturday.

The list orders the U.S. stop threatening the country; end strikes in Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen and Iraq "forever;" withdraw naval and air forces from around Iran; pay war reparations; release frozen Iranian assets; and lift sanctions against Iran.

The list of requirements, which the Trump administration is unlikely to agree to meet, upends talks between Iran and Oman that were thought to be headed toward a re-opening of the waterway and a subsequent relaxing of global energy prices.

Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, was quoted by military-affiliated outlet Tasnim on Saturday as saying Iran and Oman were “very close” to an agreement, but the reopening of the Strait would be dependent on the U.S. meeting its conditions.

American officials have said the Iranian sanctions will only be lifted upon the striking of a deal regarding Iran’s nuclear program, and that Iran will only be able to access its frozen assets if it agrees to give up its highly enriched uranium.

The Trump administration had not publicly commented on the Iranian demands as of 12 p.m. ET Saturday.

www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2026/08/08/iran-says-us-must-meet-demands-before-strait-of-hormuz-reopens/

I totally agree with you, although the list also stretches to funding endless wars as well as corporate bail outs. It's grim. It's absolutely not Capitalism. It's a system that enriches the already wealthy and punishes the poor (and the young too, who own no assets/far less assets). It's discriminatory and just plain cruel. The 1970s saw a much higher percentage of wealth owned by normal people. It's been getting progressively worse ever since.
I'll get off one of my hobby horses now and back to the Iran war and the sad lack of a current peace agreement!

Yes. Corporate welfare.

I was just reading the transcript for this : Remarks: Donald Trump Attends a Roundtable on American Mining - August 7, 2026

Remarks: Donald Trump Attends a Roundtable on American Mining - August 7, 2026 — Trump Archive (trump-archive.com)

It is amazing how they spin it, and they have for decades. That basically, if government does anything to help a struggling family in any way, that is Socialism/Communism, and is therefore BAD.

But when it comes to giving big business practically anything they want, paid for by the taxpayer ( or borrowing more), then that is not Socialism/Communism, that is Capitalism.

Really, given that the PRC uses the term " Socialism with Chinese Characteristics" to try to explain why their Socialism seems "different" from classic socialism. maybe the US should say it operates on "Capitalism with American Characteristics".