Yaroslav Trofimov

What they are saying is that they think that the U.S.

is in a rush to extricate itself from the conflict and that the U.S.

is clearly willing to look the other way as Iran escalates and attacks other countries.

There is a lot of consternation across the Gulf.

It seems like even as Iran is violating the ceasefire and attacking the Gulf, the U.S.

is not inclined to punish Iran for that.

And so, as one official told me, it looks like the Trump administration has thrown the golf under the bus.

Once again, this reinforces the conviction held by many governments

friendly to the U.S., that the U.S.

administration under President Trump is a transactional one.

There is growing fear that even though the U.S.

is committed to helping, especially its European treaty allies, as well as treaty allies in Asia, that President Trump would be very reluctant to come to help, at least if there is no perceived benefit to the U.S.

in his eyes.

By controlling the state of our moves, you control the price of oil, therefore you control the clock.

So the longer this goes on, the higher the prices get, the more severe the shortages around the world.

And the more pressure there is on President Trump from the energy markets, but also from bond markets, to accept Iranian demands.

And so, I mean, the Iranian calculation is that as long as they control the strait, time works in their favor.

What Iran is doing is saying, look, now it's our waters.

Anybody passing through here must pay us a toll and get permission from us.

And so they are trying to basically transform this international waterway into a tollbooth that will sustain the regime going forward.