Trita Parsi

And there's no win in that for them, even if the US itself is also hurting itself through that process.

So I'm not surprised that the Chinese potentially have played a role in the background trying to get an agreement.

I think they would want to keep their fingerprints off of it.

They don't want any responsibility for what is going on.

There's one thing to help.

There's another thing to actually become a partner openly in this.

And then suddenly you share the responsibility for the outcome instead of Trump, who started this war.

So I think the Chinese are going to be very careful about that.

But behind the scenes, I'm sure they're going to do things to try to make sure that it goes in a direction that benefits them, which is for this issue to be resolved.

You know, the Iranians have actually prepared themselves for this scenario, including having a lot of oil outside of the Persian Gulf already.

Moreover, I think it's important to recognize that in the scenario I'm talking about, in which the U.S.

walks away, there would likely be more economic pressure on Iran.

But I'm not so sure there would be that naval blockade, not necessarily at least in its full form, perhaps a nominal one.

But just think about it.

The Iranians are selling oil to India and to China.

What is the U.S.

going to do?

Are they going to stop those shipments?

They think that's a punishment of Iran.

That's a punishment of China and India.