It Was Never About Getting a Deal Or Making Peace

So if anyone thought that last week's "ceasefire" between trump and Iran was staged, that the entire peace process effort that trump proposed to stabilize the global markets was gaslighting, that the negotiations being held in Pakistan was pure theater... you were correct (via Dan Goldberg at Politico):

Marathon negotiations (personal edit: doubt it) with Iran in Pakistan this weekend failed to produce a breakthrough that would definitively (personal edit: uh, ahahaha no) end the war, which is entering its seventh week.

Vance, who spoke early Sunday morning local time, said the Iranians refused to give assurances that they would not try to obtain or develop a nuclear weapon.

“They have chosen not to accept our terms,” Vance said. “The simple fact is that we need to see an affirmative commitment that they will not seek a nuclear weapon and they will not seek the tools that would enable them to quickly achieve a nuclear weapon.”

I'm not sure what Vance's trump's terms were exactly; but Iran knows the US are in no position to dictate such terms, and will deny any offer until the Ayatollah gets a deal - complete American humiliation in the Middle East and removal from the region as a global power - he can literally live with.

It's been noted that the US terms getting pushed were the same terms President Obama secured back in 2015, that trump infamously tore up in 2018 (all because trump cannot abide Obama achieving deals he can't).

In the meantime, you can tell trump took these negotiations seriously by... amusing himself with a UFC match in Miami and blowing off the no-deal situation:

Trump, who was watching a UFC fight in Miami while Vance briefed the media in Islamabad, has not said whether he would pick up where he left off last week — threatening to destroy Iranian civilization.

“We win regardless,” Trump said earlier Saturday. “We defeated them militarily.” (personal edit: /facepalm)

That trump kept his Secretary of State Marco Rubio with him in Miami to watch the fight instead of sending our most senior foreign diplomat to aid Vance in the talks underscored just how messed up and self-destructive this is: A farce pretending to be a mockery of a sham.

This was never about securing a new peace deal to pacify Iran as a Middle East threat. This was never about reopening the Strait of Hormuz. This was all about pleasing a worried and stressed out global financial market terrified of rising global oil prices triggering economic collapse.

And even then, trump and his lackeys screwed THAT up.

You can tell it wasn't about reopening the Strait because when it became clear how much of a disaster Vance's failure was, trump came out and ordered US naval forces in the region to stage their own blockade to keep ALL ships going in and out, doubling down on what Iran's already done (updates from NBC News):

TRUMP THREATENS BLOCKADE: President Donald Trump said that "effective immediately" the U.S. Navy will prevent ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz, accusing Iran of extorting them. He had previously criticized Iran for blocking the critical oil shipping chokepoint.

trump's trying to bully every other nation that wants the Strait opened to come in to fight Iran and do his dirty work for him. But that hasn't worked yet and likely won't work this time.

An absolute mess, all started and escalated by an idiot who thinks he's a genius deal-maker.