Bowen: For all his bluster, Trump has no better option than talks with Iran

At the heart of the latest military exchanges between Iran and the US is the Tehran regime's determination not to return to the way things were before the US and Israel attacked on 28 February.The regime is determined to keep control of the Strait of Hormuz. The ability to stop shipping carrying global essentials including a fifth of the world supply of oil and gas gives it a chokehold on the world economy.It is a much more usable weapon than the possibility that it will try to develop a nuclear weapon.Iran will not agree to relinquish control of the Strait of Hormuz. That is why it is prepared to risk the MOU – which is laden with potential sweeteners for Iran – to make the point that there is no going back. It is prepared to gamble on continued war to protect what it believes are its strategic rights in the Strait.The regime in Tehran has been emboldened by the failure of the US and Israel to destroy it. The funeral rituals of the supreme leader killed when they launched their campaign have demonstrated that the Islamic regime has a strong core of support.Domestic opposition has not gone away. But the regime's ruthless use of force to crush protests, killing thousands, back in January for protesting in the streets means that it is keeping a low profile.If the escalation between the two sides can be stopped, mediators involved in the negotiating process believe it is possible to do a deal with Iran that will allow shipping to transit the Strait. It would have to be part of a wider agreement that unfreezes Iranian assets held abroad, allows Iran to sell its oil and most critically for the regime acknowledges Iran's authority over the Strait. In return Iran would have to accept limits on enriching uranium, allow UN nuclear inspectors back in, and to account for stocks of what Trump calls "nuclear dust" – in other words uranium already enriched close to levels that could be used to make a nuclear weapon.