Optimism about reaching a diplomatic solution to the Iran crisis is premature. No deal between Iran and Oman has been formally announced, but what we know is not promising. Indeed, allowing the Strait of Hormuz littoral states alone to conduct the negotiations is a fundamental challenge to freedom of the seas, a foundation of U.S. foreign policy. The specifics may be even worse.  Under one leaked version of the deal, neither US nor Israeli ships would be allowed to transit the strait, an automatic non-starter for Washington.

Whatever the deal’s actual terms, Iran, on Saturday, unabashedly showed its true colors. Tehran’s Supreme National Security Council issued a list of conditions for opening the strait that is, or certainly should be, utterly unacceptable to the U.S. and its Middle East partners. Even reluctant European NATO allies should see the demands as unacceptable.