A narrow door out of the Hormuz war

THE deal that US President Donald Trump says is “largely negotiated” with Iran is, on its face, a modest document: a one-page memorandum of understanding (MOU), 14 points, 60 days.

Set against the catastrophe of the last three months, a war that began with American and Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear and missile sites in late February, the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iranian counter-strikes across the Gulf, and a closed Strait of Hormuz that has carried roughly a fifth of global oil to crisis, that modesty is the point.

The framework does not resolve the conflict. It buys time. Whether that time is used or squandered is the only question that matters.