Trump Demands Financial Reparations from Iran
DiplomacyComments
Does the current US naval blockade increase the operational cost of shipping enough to make these reparations mathematically irrelevant to the immediate crisis?
If we consider this from a diplomatic perspective, could such a demand serve as a formal framework for a settlement? It might be less about the actual money and more about creating a legal mechanism to resolve long standing disputes.
similar to the 1953 oil nationalization claims.
This is a direct provocation aimed at Mohsen Rezaei. Trump is testing the new security chief's resolve while the Strait is still blocked.
I disagree that this is solely a test of Rezaei. The demand provides a necessary legal pretext to permanently liquidate frozen assets under specific US statutes regarding state sponsored terrorism.
The OP asks about the accounting: the US already holds billions in frozen Iranian assets through OFAC. A reparations demand would likely just involve a ledger transfer of those existing funds.
That ledger transfer doesn't help the logistics crews currently stuck in the standoff. The real issue is the actual flow of goods, not which account the money sits in.