The Harder Trump Attacks, The Tougher Iran Becomes: The Strait of Hormuz is Pushed to the Center of the Negotiating Table!

The assassination attempts by the US and Israel have not softened Iran; on the contrary, they have spawned a tougher opponent – the control of the Strait of Hormuz, which has now been pushed to the center of the negotiating table. According to a report by The Washington Post on April 3, a series of assassination operations by the United States and Israel against high-level Iranian officials, including several key figures such as Supreme Leader Khamenei, have resulted in their deaths. However, this operation did not bring about the leadership Trump had anticipated. Multiple regional and Western officials stated that the current Iranian regime has become even tougher, pushing the US and Iran further away from an agreement. Iran's publicly proposed conditions for a ceasefire include war reparations and formal control over the Strait of Hormuz – with the right to charge passage fees to passing ships. A European official involved in diplomatic mediation stated bluntly: "They have shown the Gulf states how vulnerable they are, and how vulnerable the global economy is. So the price has gone up. The Strait of Hormuz has never appeared in any negotiation; now it's like it's placed right in the middle." According to CCTV News on March 31, the National Security Committee of the Iranian Parliament has passed a bill proposing to charge passage fees for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. The bill specifies that the fees will be implemented in Iranian Rials, with details on financial arrangements and the charging system yet to be determined. Trump: No Agreement in Two to Three Weeks, Then We Strike Power Plants Facing the stalemate, according to Xinhua News Agency, Trump declared in his latest national television address on April 2 that the war against Iran had achieved "overwhelming victory," and that extremely fierce strikes would be carried out in the next two to three weeks. "If there is no agreement within this period, we have already targeted key objectives," Trump said. "If there is no agreement, we will strike every one of their power plants very fiercely, and most likely simultaneously." He also threatened to strike Iran's oil infrastructure. However, many regional officials stated that even if Israel continues its assassination operations against Iranian leaders, the hope of a negotiation breakthrough in the coming weeks remains slim. The Trump administration's logic is that continued assassinations can force Iran to compromise. A former Trump administration official who served in the early stages of the conflict told The Washington Post: "If the Iranian side is not flexible enough, we can continue to kill until we find someone willing to negotiate." "When you apply more pressure, the Iranians seem more responsive." This former official admitted that there was only a "slim hope" that assassinations would eventually produce individuals willing to engage with Trump. But he believed this strategy could at least create suspicion and internal friction among Iran's top leadership, thereby weakening the regime. "It's actually killing two birds with one stone – either find someone willing to negotiate, or create more turmoil, causing them to split internally and further weaken the regime." However, Iran has strongly refuted this. An Iranian diplomat stated that such methods reveal a profound misunderstanding of Iranian culture and history – in Iran, martyrdom is revered. Iran Becomes Tougher with Each Strike Suzanne Maloney, Vice President of the Brookings Institution and former senior official for Iran at the US State Department, pointed out, "(Iran) is a system with a very, very deep talent pool. It is not an authoritarian regime that relies on a few core advisors. This country has spent 47 years ensuring that it will not be overthrown by external adversaries or its own people." Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and an Iran analyst, also pointed out that the current Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the new Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Ahmad Vahidi, and the Supreme Leader's military advisor Mohsen Rezaei, all emerged from the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s. "They all started from the bottom together when they were young," Vatanka said. "Having been in this system for decades, I don't think these individuals want to talk about any agreement with Trump. They will double down and believe in their own slogans. They are all part of the system, and while they may have disagreements, survival is a common interest at this moment." Notably, Iran has not been paralyzed by the strikes against its high-level officials. It is reported that Iran has recently continued to launch retaliatory attacks, hitting high-value targets, including key energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf, Israeli industrial and energy facilities, and US military installations – including a direct strike on an advanced US reconnaissance aircraft. According to CCTV News, an F-15E fighter jet was shot down in Iran, and another A-10 attack aircraft crashed near the Strait of Hormuz. This is the first known instance of a US warplane crashing in Iran since the US and Israel launched military operations against Iran on February 28.