Markets Want to Declare an Off-Ramp and Go Home
Without a deal, the best outcome may be for the US to forcibly reopen the Strait.
Sending signals.
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“You’re beginning to see the regime look for an exit ramp,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday when asked about negotiations to end the war in Iran. She was talking about Iran, but it might just as easily have been the US.
The next stage of escalation, should it happen, would be a win for nobody; the US would take out Iran’s energy infrastructure, and Tehran would retaliate by doing similar damage to production facilities across the Gulf, meaning energy and food crises for a swathe of the world’s population. It’s obvious that both sides could use an off-ramp. The question is whether they can find one before it’s too late.