US, Iran locked in competing ‘maximalist’ positions

Bryan Clark, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, said the US and Iran “are essentially making maximalist demands on each other”. The Iranians “want to maximise their control of the Strait of Hormuz and charge tolls, and maybe even use that as leverage in their future negotiations with the US on the nuclear programme”, while Washington’s position amounts to a demand that Tehran “simply surrender”, he said.