‘Largely Negotiated’: Reading the Gap in the Contemplated Hormuz MOU
On 23 May 2026, Trump said an Iran deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was ‘largely negotiated.’ The contemplated MOU lifts the blockade and opens a 60-day nuclear window — but its ‘unrestricted navigation’ language can be read two ways: UNCLOS free transit, or merely the end of the US blockade with the PGSA arrangement intact. Iran’s Fars response insists the strait ‘remains under Iranian management.’ This post reads the gap that the language points conceal.