New Delhi, July 15 -- When donald trump signed a preliminary peace deal with Iran last month, he bragged that it "achieves everything we set out to accomplish". The Gulf war would end and the Strait of Hormuz would reopen. Less than a month later, the agreement looks to be unravelling: fighting has resumed and traffic through the strait has collapsed. This is occurring not in spite of the so-called memorandum of understanding (mou) but rather because of it.

Overnight on July 13th Iranian missiles hit two tankers from the United Arab Emirates as they transited Hormuz, killing one sailor. Later America bombed military targets in Iran, which then fired missiles and drones at several Arab states. There have been five such nights of tit-for-t...