Donald Trump is punishing Iran for refusing to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by closing the

Strait of Hormuz.

Also, Iran is threatening to retaliate with more attacks across the region, and the United States is also considering launching new strikes of its own. And while there's other craziness in this whole thing, including the Trump Jesus scandal, this is where we are less than halfway through the two-week ceasefire that went to effect last week. chaos and confusion coming after the first in-person talks between the two sides ended this weekend with no deal.

And so let's actually start there. through the two-week ceasefire that went to effect last week. Or with the latest chaos and confusion coming after the first in-person talks between the two sides ended this weekend with no

deal. And so let's actually start there. Because American and Iranian officials met on Saturday in Islamabad, which is the capital of Pakistan, whose government has emerged as the primary mediator and negotiations between the U.S. and Iran. On the U.S. side, you had Vice President J.D. Vans, along with special envoy, Steve Wiccoff, and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

And on the Iranian side, you're the country Speaker of Parliament and its foreign minister.

And it was the highest level face-to-face meeting between the two countries since diplomatic relations were cut off after Iran's 1979 revolution. And before, and even as negotiations were underway, you had Trump weighing in on social media, claiming that Iran had no cards to play and is losing and losing big. He also suggested that the U.S. was starting the process of clearing out mines that Iran's believed to have laid in the Strait of Hormuz. And you'd report suggesting that two American ships actually entered the waterway during the talks, destroying an Iranian surveillance drone in the process, although their mission was apparently to get ready for future mine sweeping operations while also showing commercial ships that you could get through the waterways safely. Though, notably, notably believe that one reason the straight hasn't been open to more traffic is that Iran isn't able to find all the mines that it placed or laxability to remove them. Whatever the case may be there, after almost a full day of nearly nonstop talks, as Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended a UFC fight in Miami, Vance and Co., they left the room empty-handed. We have been at it now for 21 hours, and we've had a number of substantive discussions with the Iranians. That's the good news. The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement. And I think that's bad news for Iran much more than it's bad news for the United States of America. Now, Vance didn't say whether the two-week ceasefire with Iran would remain in effect, what would happen with the straight-of-h removes, or if Trump would now follow through with his threat to destroy an entire Iranian civilization. But Vance did suggest that the biggest sticking point was the lack of what he called an affirmative commitment from Iran that they will not seek a nuclear weapon and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon.

And similarly, you had Trump claiming in a social media post. The meeting went well, most points were agreed to, but the only point that really mattered nuclear was not. But also to be clear here, while Trump and his administration, they've explicitly argued that Iran's nuclear ambition includes the development of a nuclear weapon, Iran has said for decades that it has no intention of building one. Instead, you've got them insisting that it has a right to maintain nuclear enrichment capabilities for civilian purposes. That said, though, it has enriched uranium to levels beyond what's needed for civilian purposes. But then also, even intelligence assessments that have been presented to Trump have concluded that it wasn't actively pursuing a weapon or close to actually being able to do so.

And so the main issue doesn't seem to be whether Iran will agree to not pursue a nuclear weapon,

but rather whether it'll stop enriching uranium, give up its stockpile of the material, and shut down its main nuclear facilities. Though also a very big thing is that's not the only issue preventing it deal. There are also questions about the fate of Iran's proxy groups in the region, including Iran's continued support for them and Israel's continued war against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Because the US and Israel, continued war against Hezbollah.

Because the US and Israel, they said that Lebanon isn't actually included in the ceasefire and the IDF has actually ramped up their attacks there. You got the Lebanese government reporting that the Israeli military has killed more than 2,000 people over the course of the current war, including hundreds since the ceasefire began. While the Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the U.S. are expected to meet in Washington

this week for talks,

those don't seem any more likely to actually yield results in the ones between the U.S. and Iran.

Though, I will say Iran Speaker of Parliament previously claimed that those talk couldn't even get underway without the ceasefire extending to Lebanon first. So that ends up being just one of the many

examples showing that especially in this conflict, what leaders on either side say in public is not

always what they really mean or what is happening. But then also with that said, according to reports, example showing that especially in this conflict, what leaders on either side say in public is not

always what they really mean or what is happening. But then also with that said, according to reports, another issue in the talks is Iran's demand that billions of dollars in frozen assets be released. And then, of course, there's the straight-of-hor-muse. And with that, after the talks ended with no deal, you had Trump announcing, effective immediately, the United States Navy will begin the process of blockading any and all ships trying to enter or leave the straightover moves and

adding I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in international waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas. And then, even though he just said effective immediately, claim that the blockade would begin shortly, and then also claiming other countries will be involved with this blockade. And then he also had Trump repeating that claim on Fox News afterwards saying that he thinks that numerous countries are going to be helping us with this and also saying, We're putting on a complete blockade. We're not going to let Iran make money on selling oil to people that they like and not people that they don't like or

whatever it is. It's going to be all or none, and that's the way it is. And it'll be, you saw,

what we did with Venezuela, it'll be something very similar to that, but at a higher level.

But then, as were usual, his claims, they've been contradicted by himself as well as just reality. Because you later had him explaining that the blockade would actually only apply to ships entering or exiting Iranian ports and also revealing that it would begin today at 10 a.m. And then the Defense Department further clarifying that its forces would not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports. So Trump's same here as to weaken Iran's economy by cutting off one of its major sources of revenue, right? Oil exports, while potentially being less risky than trying to escort vessels through the strait. And actually with this, you would have retired Navy rear admiral arguing that it might work, telling the Washington Post. Even if Trump was shooting from the hip here, it was a pretty good shot. I think Iranians will feel the pinch for this.

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