Mike Baker

Now, it's important to note that those are the goals, aspirational objectives for a future binding agreement of some sort.

Those goals do appear broadly consistent with what we've seen in the leaked drafts, though the administration is signaling that some of the finer details may have been inaccurately reported.

I hope this is clear enough for you.

There are, however, several unanswered questions.

Are there?

One concerns the Strait of Hormuz itself.

President Trump announced over the weekend that he was authorizing the reopening of the strategic waterway and ending the U.S.

naval blockade of Iranian ports.

Yet as of Monday, maritime security organizations were still reporting that blockade operations remained in effect.

and that the security threat level in the region remains severe.

Again, not to put too fine a point on it, but President Trump authorizing the reopening of the Strait isn't the same as the Iranian regime declaring and abiding by a reopened Strait.

Now, that doesn't necessarily mean the agreement is in trouble, if in fact there is an agreement.

Large military and commercial operations don't change overnight, of course, but it does suggest that the implementation may lag behind the political announcements, at least in the short term.

Another question involves Lebanon.

One of the leaked drafts that circulated over the weekend reportedly called for an end to hostilities on all fronts, including in Lebanon.

But on Monday, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gur publicly rejected the notion that Israel is bound by any U.S.-Iran agreement.

In a statement, Ben-Gur argued that Israel is not a party to the deal and remains committed to continuing operations against Iranian proxy Hezbollah.

Again, that doesn't necessarily mean that the broader agreement is doomed, but it does highlight one of the challenges facing any regional peace arrangement.

Washington and Tehran may be able to negotiate with one another, sort of, but influencing the actions of allies and proxies is often considerably more difficult.

For now, the biggest takeaway is relatively straightforward, although it wouldn't appear to be.