A waterway connecting the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea has emerged as one of the pivotal bones of contention in the West Asia crisis. That is because the besieged Strait of Hormuz remains the passageway of global energy resources: an estimated 20% of oil and a significant portion of LNG pass through this area. Iran’s chokehold on Hormuz, in retaliation against the aggression on it by the United States of America and Israel, has dealt a crippling blow to the world’s access to oil and gas. Many countries — mostly Asian — are dealing with shortages; the price of crude has also spiked upwards. The US president has now threatened Iran — expletives were used — that he would target Tehran’s power plants unless the waterway is opened by today. Mr Trump’s intemperateness was unwarranted: his vacillations in the course of the conflict are even worse. Iran responded by warning of firmer retaliation. Worse, the result of the virtual deliberations that took place earlier among 40 countries on finding a way out of the Hormuz puzzle was unpromising. Several options were tabled by European nations, ranging from the deployment of minesweepers and naval escorts to the securing of economic leverage through diplomacy. But nothing came out of it. The conflict rages on, with Israel targeting a major Iranian petrochemical site. There are even whispers that Tehran’s allies could blockade the Bab al-Mandeb shipping route, further choking global access to oil.
All this makes it difficult to pin hopes on the cessation in hostilities. Yet peace plans are in the works. Tehran has stated that it has formulated its own response to proposals of a ceasefire prepared by intermediaries even though it has ruled out the possibility of direct talks as long as the US and Israel continue with their assaults. But the confounding — often contradictory — statements issued by Mr Trump are ending up pouring more water on the prospect of a breakthrough. Peace cannot emerge from confusion. It is contingent upon consistency and firmness, qualities that Mr Trump, among all the stakeholders in the crisis in West Asia, seem to be lacking the most. His abrasive ties with Europe also mean that the Continent’s ability to push the US for peace has diminished considerably. That is bad news for Europe, Iran and the world.