Trump's Trials - Iran wants to pressure Trump over Strait of Hormuz

Episode Date: August 10, 2026

As Iran works toward a final agreement with Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, leaders there have a political incentive to drag out negotiations: their desire to put pressure on President Trump.Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Trump's terms. I'm Scott Detrow. The president has both an ability and a willingness to use the power of his office, to think outside the box. Nobody makes a better deal than President Trump. We're going to do better and better and better. Nobody can believe what they're watching. Every episode, we bring you one story from NPR's recent coverage of the 47th president. With a focus on ways his administration is pushing the boundaries of presidential power.

Here's the latest from NPR. I'm Ame Martinez. And I'm Leila Faudil. Tehran has laid out tough conditions for the U.S. to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which may mean the talks drag on much longer. Some experts say that could be a deliberate strategy to prolong negotiations so that President Trump goes into midterm elections even more unpopular than polls show he already is. To understand this thinking better, we're joined by NPR's Hediel El-Shalchi in Istanbul. Good morning. Good morning.

What is Iran saying it wants in order? to make a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Yeah. So we know that the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council issued a statement over the weekend saying that Iran would only open the Strait of Hormuz, that key global waterway. If the U.S. lifted its naval blockade as well as sanctions, he said that the U.S. military must withdraw from around Iran, pay it reparations for war damages, release frozen Iranian assets, and end its attacks. Now, in the deal itself that Iran is currently negotiating with Oman. Iran has banned any U.S. or Israeli ships from moving through the

strait and says that Iran will charge a fee and impose fines of up to 20 percent of the cargo value if those conditions are broken. And the White House has yet to comment on those Iranian demands. Now, these conditions just, just several of them sound like something the U.S. just would never agree to. What's Iran's strategy here? Well, the conversation inside Iran is very much about President Trump's vulnerability ahead of the midterms. Iran is, very aware of the U.S. political discourse. In Iranian media tracks Trump's polling rates. It discusses how the Democratic Party's base is shifting. For example, a news agency closely tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard published an article entitled The Iran War and the start of Trump's political

decline outlining Trump's drop in popularity and the dilemma he faces if he continues the war. I spoke to Osla Aydentashbash, a fellow at the Brookings Institution who's been following the talks. She says that Iran wants to make clear to Trump that even if he's a problem, that even if he says, they can't defeat the U.S. militarily, they have other ways. They can drag this out, that they are resilient, and therefore, they won't have a stronger hand than they normally would in hormones negotiations. And so, like you said, Iran is keeping those demands as maximalist as possible and trying to push any nuclear talks further into the future. Iran has said maybe up to four months

from now even, and that could force Trump to go into midterms with no Iranian deal, a weakened economy and an angry base that disapproves of the war. Could this backfire, though, for Iran? Playing this long game doesn't come without risk. The U.S. has dealt Iran major blows and infrastructure and military, and if Iran doesn't strike a deal with the U.S. soon, it can risk even more internal unrest as the economy continues to fail in Iran. On Sunday, Trump said to Axios, quote, we are low-keying it and compared it all to a chess game. He said that the U.S. was watching Iran's huge inflation. But Aiden Tashbash says that Iran and the U.S. have been thinking about each other for half a century and know each other's Achilles heel.

And for Iran, there's president. The Iran hostage crisis of 1979 essentially caused Jimmy Carter the presidency. Iran wants to use this time, use their leverage, but also the midterm calendar, for a stronger agreement that establishes their sovereignty over hormones. Trump, however, she says, has not been studying Iran. She says his administration has a disdain for. Washington experts and policymakers, people who would have probably told Trump not to go to war. NPR's Hidal al-Shalchi in Istanbul. Thank you, Hidal.

You're welcome. Before we wrap up a reminder, you can find more coverage of the Trump administration on the NPR Politics Podcast, where you can hear NPR's political reporters break down the day's biggest political news with new episodes every weekday afternoon. And thanks, as always, to our NPR Plus supporters who hear every episode of the show without sponsor messages. You can learn more at plus.npr.org. I'm Scott Detrow.

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