Pakistan, Aug. 9 -- Iran and Oman have agreed the contours of a new navigation arrangement for the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, but anyone tempted to make new declarations should look at what seems to be happening alongside it. Tehran's Revolutionary Guards have made clear the waterway would not fully reopen until Washington accepted Iran's wider conditions, while the United States said its blockade of Iranian ports would be lifted once unhindered commercial traffic resumed. Meanwhile, the UAE accused Iran of firing a missile at another oil tanker. ADNOC says its ships have now been targeted in 15 missile and drone attacks since the war began.

This glaring contradiction between diplomacy and active war fronts tells us more about the end...