FEELING rather badly cornered, United States President Mr. Donald Trump has declared Strait of Hormuz as a ‘new US Territory’ -- so that he will have the authority to take tough action to guard the interests of ‘American’ territory. In other words, Mr. Trump has tried to create an imperative for the US to keep acting tough against Iran and have the Strait of Hormuz cleared of all obstacles (including sea-mines) and clear the blocked Strait of Hormuz. The justification is that he cannot allow the international trade route passing through the Strait of Hormuz to function as normally as possible. Iran has decided to teach the deluded man -- Mr. Donald Trump -- a lesson he would not forget. This means, war clouds will keep hanging over the Middle East. Currently, the Strait of Hormuz is acting nearly normally -- with international cargo passing through it carefully but uninterruptedly.

 

There are some glitches, all right, in closing the peace arrangement in Middle East. Yet, when things are slowly improving, the US President has made the declaration that Strait of Hormuz is an American territory. It is only natural that Iran is not going to entertain such a cheap approach -- and will fight back with all its might. In other words, Middle East in particular will remain mired in war for the next some time -- which, in turn, will jeopardise the world’s trade and geopolitics. This extension will strain the global economic operations.

 

There are reasons to suspect that Mr. Trump is indulging in his own style of geopolitics for the purpose of domestic American politics ahead of mid-term elections due in November. Now that he has made the defiant declaration, Mr. trump will not hesitate to act tough on Iran. Reports in the international media have us believe that the US is arranging its naval power around the Strait of Hormuz to take action at the time of its choosing. Of course, there are also reports of the depleted military merchandise and weaponry of the United States -- thanks to the prolonged engagement in Middle East. The US had never expected that the conflict would extend itself in such a manner, and for so long a time. The conflict did not yield any concrete outcome for the US, but ensured that it wasted a lot of its stored arms and ammunition. Some media reports suggest that big chunks of America’s top destructive arsenal have been used up with replacement not possibly coming in the next three to five years.

 

With these details in the background, questions have come up about US’ capability to drag the war on effectively for some more time. Some observers, therefore, view Mr. Trump’s latest announcement as an expression of his bravado that may not yield results as per his own expectation. On the other hand, Iran is determined “to correct delusions of this deluded man Trump”. Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Kazeem Gharibabadi said, Mr. Trump’s claims would get corrected -- either by circumstances, or by Iran itself. In other words, Iran has geared itself up for a long fight to protect Strait of Hormuz from the American arrogance and dominance. Other Iranian heavy-weights have insisted that Iran would never allow Strait of Hormuz to be reopened -- until Washington fulfilled its commitments under the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding, including the lifting of the Hormuz blockade.

 

Thus, the world is where it was a couple of months ago when a so-called deal was being brokered favouring ceasefire in Middle East. This may mean that a fresh wave of diplomatic initiatives will have to be launched by different parties to make the Americans (as well as Israelis) and the Iranians see sense and come to some sensible understanding between themselves. When conflicts stretch beyond logic, the world loses interest even in peace, but keeps getting traumatised severely. Such a stage can spell disaster for all. Hence the need now to make fresh bids to sort things out between two obstinate sides. As a so-called superpower, the US may declare Strait of Hormuz as its new territory. But that is not going to solve any problem. On the contrary, problems are going to multiply -- to solve which Mr. trump does no wherewithal.