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Pakistan’s defense minister Khawaja Asif told Bloomberg on Tuesday that both the US and Iran appear to be close to a ‘sort of arrangement’ over the Strait of Hormuz, while both sides spent the preceding 24 hours taking public positions that appeared to harden their stances.
Asif said in Islamabad that ‘things are shaping up in favor of peace.’ This statement came as Pakistan is one of the few countries with a working diplomatic line to both Washington and Tehran, and Asif has been Islamabad’s point person helping facilitate talks to end the ongoing impasse.
However, Asif’s optimism stood in stark contrast to the actual state of negotiations. Iran maintains that the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz can only happen once Washington meets a list of demands — including the removal of sanctions, lifting the blockade of Iranian ports, unfreezing Iranian assets, and paying compensation for wartime damages. Trump rejected Iran’s demand for compensation outright and stated instead that Iran should be making reparations to the United States for decades of conflict involving Iranian forces.
‘They should be paying us,’ Trump said, instructing US negotiators to include American compensation claims in any future talks with Tehran, according to CBS News reporting. Iran’s foreign ministry responded that senior Iranian officials would travel to Pakistan for talks only under ‘appropriate conditions’ — a statement that fell well short of confirming that negotiations would actually take place.
Meanwhile, the situation at sea grew more complicated. According to officials cited by multiple outlets, a US military helicopter fired on a Panama-flagged container ship that attempted to run the American naval blockade of Iranian ports. Oil markets responded: Brent crude rose to $89.05 per barrel on Wednesday, up more than 35 percent compared to the same time last year. The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline stands at $4.04, according to AAA — up from $3.14 a year ago.
On the diplomatic front, not much has changed from the inability of either side to make meaningful movement. The months-long standoff has closed one of the world’s most critical energy corridors and sent inflationary pressure rippling through global markets. Pakistan’s defense minister insists the pieces are coming together. Whether that is true remains a separate question entirely.
