June
13, 2026
Juan Cole
In an incredible development, Donald Trump actually reposted Araghchi’s message on his Truth Social. For Trump to retweet Araghchi is an unexpected and remarkable development.
Earlier, on June 11, sources close to the hardliners in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) denied that a new round of talks had begun. It is not clear what this assertion meant, since talks have been ongoing, with Pakistani, Qatari and other mediation. It could just be that the IRGC simply did not want to look weak while Iran was being attacked. Another IRGC source denied that a final draft of the agreement was ready. ( H/t to BBC Monitoring for links.)
During the most recent two days of exchange of fire between the US and Iran, the IRGC had announced that the Strait of Hormuz was completely closed to shipping. As the US was striking Iranian infrastructure, including petrochemical plants and a water reservoir in the south (a war crime), the head of Iran’s Air Force or as they style it “Aerospace Forces,” Brig. Gen. Majid Musavi, warned the US against meddling with the “sacred [muqaddas] Strait of Hormuz,” saying that Iran could make the region “hell” for America.
I thought Musavi’s terminology here interesting. I hadn’t seen an Iranian official call the Strait “holy” before, and there isn’t really a good basis for so considering it as far as I know in Islamic or Shia sacred geography. There is of course an old, pre-Islamic Zoroastrian notion that all of the land of Iran, Iranzamin, is holy. And French Islam specialist Henri Corbin argued that Iranian Shiism accepted many Zoroastrian ideas and symbols. Corbin was certainly right; even some Zoroastrian angels are accepted.
It is a reminder of the different stakes for Iran and the United States. The Iranian government is fighting for control of its own soil, which Netanyahu and Trump tried to deny it. From Tehran’s point of view, that is sacred territory.
Juan Cole
Ann Arbor (Informed
Comment) – The announcement by President Trump on Friday that he had decided
not to pursue further attacks on Iran for the moment after a round of tit for
tat strikes midweek provoked two different reactions in Iran
Foreign Minister
Abbas Araghchi confirmed that negotiations are nearing success, saying that the
Islamabad MOU “has never been closer.“ This sort of response from Tehran is
rare. Often Trump announces breakthroughs in the talks that are denied by
Tehran, and the American public suspects he is just manipulating the stock
market. But this time, the Iranian foreign minister concurred. In part, this
alacrity may have been intended to forestall further American strikes, some of
which hit radar installations and so blinded the Iranian Revolutionary Guards
Corps in their attempt to keep tight surveillance on civilian vessels in the
Gulf so as to maintain as much of its Hormuz blockade as it can. That blockade
is Iran’s only leverage over the US, and it is eroding.
In an incredible development, Donald Trump actually reposted Araghchi’s message on his Truth Social. For Trump to retweet Araghchi is an unexpected and remarkable development.
Earlier, on June 11, sources close to the hardliners in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) denied that a new round of talks had begun. It is not clear what this assertion meant, since talks have been ongoing, with Pakistani, Qatari and other mediation. It could just be that the IRGC simply did not want to look weak while Iran was being attacked. Another IRGC source denied that a final draft of the agreement was ready. ( H/t to BBC Monitoring for links.)
During the most recent two days of exchange of fire between the US and Iran, the IRGC had announced that the Strait of Hormuz was completely closed to shipping. As the US was striking Iranian infrastructure, including petrochemical plants and a water reservoir in the south (a war crime), the head of Iran’s Air Force or as they style it “Aerospace Forces,” Brig. Gen. Majid Musavi, warned the US against meddling with the “sacred [muqaddas] Strait of Hormuz,” saying that Iran could make the region “hell” for America.
I thought Musavi’s terminology here interesting. I hadn’t seen an Iranian official call the Strait “holy” before, and there isn’t really a good basis for so considering it as far as I know in Islamic or Shia sacred geography. There is of course an old, pre-Islamic Zoroastrian notion that all of the land of Iran, Iranzamin, is holy. And French Islam specialist Henri Corbin argued that Iranian Shiism accepted many Zoroastrian ideas and symbols. Corbin was certainly right; even some Zoroastrian angels are accepted.
It is a reminder of the different stakes for Iran and the United States. The Iranian government is fighting for control of its own soil, which Netanyahu and Trump tried to deny it. From Tehran’s point of view, that is sacred territory.
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