India, April 9 -- The announcement of a two-week ceasefire between Iran and the United States has pulled the world away from what appeared to be the brink of an apocalypse. Both sides claim to be the winners in this 40-day-long war that kept the world on edge. The sad fact is that neither has won; at best, it is a Pyrrhic victory for both.

Undoubtedly, the USA and Trump have lost face. The US has presented the ceasefire as evidence of strategic success, asserting that Iran has been compelled to ensure the safe opening of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Strait, despite occasional rhetorical escalations, had never been definitively closed to global navigation, neither before February 2026 nor after previous crises, including the October 2023 Ha...