Suzanne Maloney

And so they have indicated that they don't really see themselves as prepared to negotiate directly with Washington.

They are embittered, obviously, as a result of the negotiations that were taking place both in the days before the president launched the strikes about a month ago, as well as the same sort of dynamics that preceded the June war.

where negotiations were really just a prelude to military action and in some effect, to some extent, a ruse to dupe the Iranians into complacency, even as the attack was being mobilized.

And so, you know, it's a little bit difficult to get direct diplomacy with Tehran in the best of circumstances.

This is a regime that has

you know, sort of based its ideology on anti-Americanism.

It has often frequently, in fact, refused to deal directly with American negotiators.

And so, you know, under the current circumstances where there have been thousands of strikes and many deaths in Iran, including some of the top leadership, they're not terribly inclined to sit down, nor are they particularly inclined to compromise with the United States.

They believe they have the upper hand precisely because they were able to seize control of the Strait of Hormuz, which is, of course, the strategic waterway through which about 20% of the world's oil and natural gas exports pass on a daily basis.

What the Iranians did in the first days of the war was to strike at ships that were passing through the Gulf.

and effectively persuade insurers and shipping companies and oil companies to avoid the Gulf unless they had some kind of assurance from the Iranians that they could pass.

And so what we've seen is in the pre-war period, there would be anywhere from 130 to 140 tankers traveling to and from over the Strait of Hormuz every day.

We've seen only a handful take place over the course of the past month.

And that has had a severe impact on oil exports, on prices for oil around the world.

And it will, over time, have a catastrophic impact on the global economy if there isn't a resolution to this stoppage of the strait.

They can afford to wait.

They have already suffered, as you know, tremendous losses to the leadership.

This has had a terrible impact on Iranian cities across the country.

But in effect, they have the advantage of time at this point in time, because every day that the stoppage goes on, the impact on the global economy is magnified.

And that will have a direct impact on President Trump's political standing.