TOI correspondent from Washington: “Iran never won the war, but it also never lost the negotiation,” US President Donald Trump said during his first term in office in January 2020. It’s a row that may be coming back to haunt his second-term administration. After weeks of military escalation against Israel as well as Iran, a chastened Trump is now moving toward an agreement that falls well short of the maximalist goals declared at the beginning of the conflict: no “complete and total surrender” by Iran, no regime collapse in Tehran, no verified dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, and no surrender of all highly enriched uranium reserves.Instead, the immediate US objective has been somewhat limited: reopening the Strait of Hormuz and preventing a broader global economic recession caused by the disruption of Gulf energy shipments. Trump said on Saturday that the strait would be “opened up” under a new understanding with Tehran, possibly due to pressure from other Gulf allies. Ironically, the strait was functioning normally before the US-Israeli military operation began.“An agreement has been substantially negotiated between the United States, Iran and several other countries, and is yet to be finalized… The final aspects and details of the agreement are currently being discussed and will be announced soon,” Trump said on “Truth Social.” In leaks to US media, US officials claimed that the proposed agreement included a pledge by Tehran to give up its uranium and reopen the strait unconditionally. But Iran’s state-linked Fars news agency said there was no such commitment, stressing that Tehran would continue to exercise sovereign control over passage routes, timing, permits and access through the strategic waterway, through which about a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes.According to ongoing reports in Washington diplomatic circles, the proposed framework could include a series of concessions by the US, including partial sanctions relief for Iran, access to approximately $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets and a phased reopening of maritime traffic in exchange for renewed but undefined discussions on Tehran’s nuclear program.