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Six months, no end
The U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran on Feb. 28, and six months later the conflict has reached a “costly stalemate,” with the Iranian government under economic siege but still holding power, Reuters reported from Beirut on Aug 27.
“The Iran war has reached its endgame: a costly stalemate.”
CBS News said President Trump insisted Thursday that Iran is “begging to make a deal,” while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted on X that “pressure doesn't work,” as talks remained stalled.
The Washington Post said Trump told Americans the fight could last four to five weeks, but six months later “there is little to suggest the end is near,” with Hormuz “largely closed” and U.S. weapons stocks depleted.
ABC News said the war began on Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel launched strikes that “took out much of Iran’s leadership and damaged key Iranian military sites,” and it said the U.S. Central Command has hit more than 13,000 Iranian targets.
The same ABC report said the blockade choked one of the world’s most important shipping lanes after Iran shut down commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, turning the waterway into a household name almost overnight.
Sanctions and shifting claims
CBS News said the U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper echoed Trump by saying the Strait of Hormuz is clear of sea mines and is “open, and momentum is building,” while the report added that some U.S. allies reportedly doubt that assertion.
Reuters said Washington’s latest measures announced on Monday marked a new phase shifting the battlefield from missiles and airstrikes to Iran’s oil revenues, banks and trading partners, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent saying the United States would cut off “every financial lifeline Tehran has left.”
AP News said Trump underscored this week that he is “in no rush” to seat Iran back at the negotiating table and continued to insist the leadership of the Islamic Republic is on the ropes.
The Washington Post described Trump’s options as constrained after Iranian leaders “discovered that they could withstand intense bombardment and slowly degrade the world’s most powerful military with a cheap combination of mines and drones.”
CNBC said the White House is focusing on increasing financial pressure on Iran and its trading partners, with President Donald Trump labeling the strategy “economic D-Day,” as ships attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz continue to come under attack.
What’s at stake next
Reuters reported that a threat by Trump to impose crippling new sanctions faces a fundamental problem because Tehran is betting he will not take the final step to break the stalemate by aggressively enforcing secondary sanctions on countries keeping Iran’s economy afloat, foremost among them China and India.
“President Trump holds all the cards”
Reuters also said the blockade may prove more consequential than the sanctions themselves because Iran’s immediate challenge is no longer how to survive economic pressure but how to break out of it, while U.S. State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott replied that “President Trump holds all the cards.”
ABC News said since the start of the war, 18 U.S. service members have died and more than 750 have been wounded, and it said the Defense Department is asking Congress for an additional $67.1 billion for the war.
France 24 said the conflict has produced “at least 17 American military personnel” and described “at least 3,400 deaths on Iranian soil,” while also citing “more than 3.2 million people” leaving their places of residence within Iran.
CNN said the war’s unintended consequences have spread far beyond the Middle East, affecting global security and potentially providing adversaries an opportunity to expand their influence, while Emily Harding of the Center for Strategic and International Studies warned that “some foundations are being weakened” even if a full-scale crisis has not yet emerged.