Iran war live: US bombs Iranian cities again as Hormuz standoff intensifies

Alan Eyre, a distinguished diplomatic fellow at the Middle East Institute, says Iran views control of the Strait of Hormuz as its primary strategic deterrent and is not yet prepared to relinquish it.But “this is something that the US is not yet willing to accept,” said Eyre, who also served on the US team that negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which Trump later withdrew from.“So forget about talking about the nuclear issue. This is the main speed bump that has to be negotiated and navigated if we want a resolution for the nuclear issue. And right now, I don’t see that happening,” Eyre said.He added that the US’s ongoing strikes would not “sufficiently degrade” Iran’s ability to threaten shipping through the strait.“The US is, again, doing what it does best: attacking Iran militarily, because we do have military supremacy. But the unfortunate reality is that no matter how much we strike the coastal areas, we cannot sufficiently degrade Iran’s potential to threaten shipping through this strait,” Eyre said.And that’s “because Iran has so many missiles, so many drones, so many smaller attack craft that can threaten vessels,” he added.