What’s in the Ceasefire Deal? No One Seems To Know

The trillion-dollar question facing the global economy right now is how much a ceasefire is worth that was negotiated on behalf of a convicted felon and prolific liar who is heading the most lawless and corrupt US government in history, a radical regime that has recently killed tens of thousands of its own citizens and is a state sponsor of terror, and a guy wanted for committing war crimes.

The answer is: probably not a lot… even if they could agree on what’s in their supposed deal.

But they can’t even do that, which makes us wonder whether they even reached an agreement in the first place.

When the ceasefire was announced on Tuesday, Iran said it was based on a 10-point plan it had presented to the US. That plan, however, reads much more like a wish list that would be the starting point of a negotiation.

For example, it would require the withdrawal of US forces in the region (which may also mean from bases in other Middle Eastern countries), lift all sanctions and ensure the release frozen assets, grant Tehran control over the Strait of Hormuz, and, of course, end all attacks on Iran and its allies, especially Lebanon.

The original version released in Farsi also included language that would allow Iran to enrich uranium. However, that part was missing from the translated version Tehran later distributed.

So, it sounds as though Iran cannot say what’s in even its own plan.

Initially, when he announced the ceasefire, Donald Trump acknowledged the receipt of a 10-point proposal that would serve as “a workable basis” for negotiations.

“Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two-week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated,” the president added.

Trump, of course, was desperate to re-open the Strait of Hormuz to ease the economic chaos his decision to go to war had unleashed, so who knows what he initially agreed to.

However, after it became clear that this would be a pretty rotten deal for the US, he changed his tune.

On Wednesday, he lambasted news organizations for reporting on the plan that Iran had released and that he seemed to have called a basis for negotiations.

“The Failing New York Times and Fake News CNN each reported a totally FAKE TEN POINT PLAN on the Iran negotiations which was meant to discredit the people involved in the peace process,” he wrote. “All ten points were a made-up HOAX – EVIL LOSERS!!!”

While we have plenty of problems with how the corporate media goes about its business, you can hardly blame journalists for reporting on information that one party to a ceasefire deal released – especially not when the US did not provide any specifics. Nothing was “made up” and there was no “hoax” (which is what Trump calls everything he doesn’t like).

The president later doubled down on previous threats and said that the US military would remain in the region until a “real agreement” was reached and fully complied with that ensured that Iran would not obtain nuclear weapons and open up the Strait of Hormuz.

“In the meantime our great Military is Loading Up and Resting, looking forward, actually, to its next Conquest,” he added.

As for Israel, the government in Tel Aviv seems to have no interest in ending the war that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu nudged Trump into starting. On Wednesday, it escalated its attacks on Lebanon as if to dare Tehran to violate the ceasefire as well.

Of course, it is totally unclear whether only Iran believes that ending these strikes is part of the agreement.

For what it’s worth, the Strait of Hormuz is also not open to general maritime traffic.

In other words, the situation is totally chaotic because we are dealing with three untrustworthy parties that are pursuing completely different (and diametrically opposed) agendas. It doesn’t help that the main protagonist is highly erratic.

For example, before issuing his latest threats, Trump said the US “will work closely with Iran, which we have determined has gone through what will be a very productive Regime Change!” Of course, no such regime change has taken place.

According to the president, however, this new government in Tehran will no longer enrich uranium and, in return for negotiations over tariff and sanctions relief, the US will remove “nuclear dust” that is buried following last June’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“It is now, and has been, under very exacting Satellite Surveillance (Space Force!),” Trump said of the buried nuclear material. “Nothing has been touched from the date of attack.”

The president may not have realized that this particular social media post totally undermined his stated rationale for the war, which was that Iran posed an imminent threat to the US and was days away from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Then again, hardly anything Trump says turns out to be true, so this isn’t exactly surprising.

For now, what matters is that, for the most part, Iran and the US have stopped fighting, which is obviously a good thing. For how long, though, remains anybody’s guess.