Frank Gardner

And Iran has got geography on its side.

And despite the absolute hammering it has taken, Iran is still able to fire missiles and drones at...

targets at this side of the Gulf, and it's able to threaten the Strait of Hormuz.

And that clearly is having a huge effect on the global economy, on the price of gasoline, as the Americans call petrol, at the pump.

And it's affecting stock markets.

So you've only got to look at the reaction from the oil price and stock markets since this 11th hour reprieve has been announced.

to show that it is very susceptible to what is going on in this part of the world.

The Iranians have effectively got a chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz.

Now, we don't know what exactly was discussed at these negotiations that have been announced.

by the Americans, denied by sources on Iranian media.

And yet there are reports on Fox Business News, for example, that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's go-to negotiators of choice that he sends to trouble spots around the world, that they've been involved in

hammering out a deal last night.

There's another report that Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey have been mediating this.

Previously, it was Oman.

Clearly, you know, a number of countries in this part of the world have been trying to de-escalate and defuse this.

The Iranian regime, despite all the hits it's taken, losing its supreme leader, losing Ali Larrajani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, despite all the destruction of its military,

It's still standing.

It's still intact.

And it's defiant.

It's unrepentant.