victor-intel
Washington has been billing allies for the Iran war since spring. Germany paid 5,000 troops in May and was given no reason at all. South Korea was billed on 16 August and got one in writing, from the president, itemised.
victor-intel
Washington says it can blockade Iran's coast indefinitely by rotating carriers in and out. The same week showed what that rotation costs a crew, and how thin the bench behind it actually is.
victor-intel
Tehran is close to what it went to war for. A settlement is in its final stages that leaves Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz in place and has a neighbour acknowledge it in writing. What Tehran did not price in was who would organise against it, and how little would run through Washington.
victor-intel
The negotiation everyone is watching concerns a temporary lane. Underneath it Tehran has declared the pre-war rules of the Strait of Hormuz finished and opened talks on what replaces them permanently, while Washington's stated requirement since May has been the restoration of those same rules.
victor-intel
The Strait of Hormuz is being negotiated in percentages and priced in dollars, and the two numbers sit more than an order of magnitude apart. Iran is asking five to seven percent of every cargo. This week the water charged over a third of the barrel and still found no buyer willing to send a ship.
victor-intel
Iranian and Omani negotiators finished their Strait of Hormuz text on Wednesday, and every condition needed to bring it into force sits with someone who was not in the room. Washington holds the blockade Iran wants lifted and rejects the fee the deal reportedly contains.
victor-intel
When an announcement moves the oil price and leaves the shipping market cold, the disagreement between them is the information. Futures are priced by people who never enter the Strait of Hormuz.
victor-intel
Washington and Tehran spent three days saying a Strait of Hormuz agreement was days away, and never once described the same agreement. One side rules out tolls while the other demands service fees.
victor-intel
Three parties described the Strait of Hormuz in three incompatible ways on the last day of July, and only one description can be checked against anything. Ships went where ships went.
victor-intel
Oman spent last week writing the only Strait of Hormuz settlement that both Washington and Tehran had a reason to sign. It gave Iran a recognised role and a revenue stream, left every ship free to pass without paying and stayed inside what maritime law already permits.
victor-intel
Iran is holding the Strait of Hormuz closed to obtain a transit fee that the London marine market made commercially unusable six days ago.
victor-intel
The dispute over the Strait of Hormuz is being enforced out of London. A model insurance clause published on 23 July ends a ship's hull cover the moment its owner pays Iran's transit fee, and the same market has cut Red Sea cargo cover for vessels that have called at Saudi ports.