ZeroHedge62%
Saturday Deadline: US Orders Iran To Declare Hormuz Open 30%
By Tyler Durden69%
7/10/2026, 11:00:00 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 3 faulty reasoning types, including Negativity Bias and Optimism Bias, with Pessimism Bias as the most egregious example at 7.7% saturation with 101 hits. Analysis detected 156 faulty-reasoning hits from 1,307 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 41.1% and a BS Rank of 30% (9,960 of 14,148 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 70.40% of the article peer group.
Update(1855) : The US is back to setting deadlines, coupled with new military threats, apparently.
Judging by this week, which marked a dangerous return to guns-a-blazing in the Persian Gulf, it seems Trump is ready to back these warnings with new bombing raids.
The only question will be the extent to which the Islamic Republic escalates in return .
So far it has shown willingness to 'answer' US attacks with its own missile and drone launches, against US and allied bases and facilities among the Arab Gulf states.
Axios newly reports (...just after market-closing on Friday, it should be noted), that if Tehran doesn't declare the complete opening of the Strait of Hormuz and safe passage to all ships by close of Saturday, then the... or else!
"The Trump administration is demanding that Iran publicly acknowledge that the Strait of Hormuz is open and pledge to stop firing on commercial ships," the report says.
The US has also renewed calls for Iran to immediately hand over its "nuclear dust" - amid the warnings.
Axios reports the message was conveyed "directly" and "through regional mediators" - citing three officials.
Both sides have already accused the other of severely violating the terms of the MoU.
And US Treasury issued fresh sanctions on Tehran Friday, which violates the 'no new sanctions' clause of the memorandum.
So the MoU is clearly on life support as it is.
Diplomacy is still moving on some fronts: "Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr al-Busaidi are expected to meet Saturday in Muscat to discuss the Hormuz crisis," Axios continues.
But here's the deadline:
The U.S. officials said they expect Iran to issue a statement after Saturday's meeting in Oman .
Iran has not appeared in the mood to 'compromise' or admit defeat on any level, and so the world might witness yet more waves of US attacks by Saturday night and into Sunday.
A big question remains is whether Israel will continue sitting on the sidelines.
Recent reports suggest Washington has been behind the scenes pressuring the Israelis not to act against Iran unilaterally.
But the Netanyahu government remains a big wild card in all this.
*US OFFICIALS SAY EXPECT IRAN TO SAY HORMUZ WILL BE TOLL-FREE
*US OFFICIALS SAY EXPECT IRAN TO ANNOUNCE IT WON'T FIRE AT SHIPS https://t.co/lFMO4xiK6r
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) July 10, 2026
The guns have actually been silent in the Middle East overnight , after two days of deadly strikes between the United States and Iran, amid a general return to premarket open headlines of 'peace imminent again' as mediators desperately work to get diplomacy back on track.
The White House position is that the ceasefire is over but that Washington has agreed to reengage Tehran in mediated talks.
Trump indicates US has agreed to Iran talks, but United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that cease fire is over .
The New York Times writes early Friday that "Qatar, which helped broker the U.S.-Iran truce last month, has been in talks with Washington and Tehran to de-escalate the crisis , according to two officials with knowledge of the matter, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.
In recent days, several other regional countries — Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, all of which host U.S. military facilities — said they have come under Iranian attack."
via Shutterstock/National Interest
The same report further says, "Even as the fighting appeared to subside on Friday, it remained unclear whether the latest mediation efforts could prevent that cycle from repeating."
The situation has devolved into a "dangerous test of wills, with each side trying to show that it can absorb the other’s attacks and respond forcefully, without tipping the conflict back into full-scale war ," NYT continues.
And separately Bloomberg also reports, "Talks between the US and Iran on a permanent peace deal are continuing, according to a US official, despite two days of clashes that threatened an already fragile ceasefire.
The renewed hostilities risk undermining efforts to rebuild depleted global oil inventories, the International Energy Agency said."
Bloomberg continues: "Oil prices steadied on Friday after a bumpy week.
While gasoline prices have fallen since the fragile ceasefire, they’ve lagged crude’s sharp decline, prompting one asset manager to buy protection against stickier-than-expected US inflation."
There appears real movement on this, given also that Reuters is freshly reporting that Qatar negotiators are currently in Iran to meet Iranian officials , as part of the effort to immediately de-escalate tensions and create conditions for broader negotiations.
Still, the crisis is on edge and full-scale war could return at any moment, also as the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency is once again alerting global vessels security threat in the Strait of Hormuz remains at its highest level .
In Iran, the burial of the slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has finally concluded, and the IRGC's top commander, Brigadier-General Ahmad Vahidi, has pledged vengeance against the US and Israel for the assassination , saying it won’t "be erased from the historical memory."
The Revolutionary Guard chief called for the "full realization of justice and a fitting response to the criminals, especially the child-killing American army."
An estimated 41-43 million people attended the six-day funeral for the late Khamenei, according to Iranian media.
NEW: Iran warns it will retaliate against infrastructure attacks and strike Israel in response. pic.twitter.com/JmkyZ7Zeyy
— Clash Report (@clashreport) July 10, 2026
In the meantime we commented overnight on who is not seeking permanent Iran peace at this point, on lingering concerns about the Islamic Republic's nuclear program.
The Wall Street Journal in a Thursday evening report says that Israel has provided fresh intelligence to the White House indicating just such a Tehran-linked plot.
The timing is quite curious and interesting given it comes just as the warring sides standing on the brink of returning once again either to talks, or to full-scale war :
Israel shared new intelligence with the U.S. that it said indicated a fresh Iranian plan to kill President Trump, people familiar with the matter said , a finding that would mark an escalation in the war between Washington and Iran.
Iran for years has vowed openly to retaliate against Trump for the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, who was a top general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in the president’s first term.
The Israeli embassy in Washington declined to comment.
Iran’s Mission to the United Nations didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The White House referred The Wall Street Journal to comments the president made on Wednesday.
The Israelis have remained deeply dissatisfied with terms laid out in the previously agreed-to MoU, and so have every incentive to goad Washington further into the conflict.
Certainly many within the US administration know this, and so might be taking this new 'intelligence warning' - which was leaked rather quickly to major media - with the appropriate degree of skepticism.
The US has still - somewhat surprisingly - affirmed it remains engaged in 'technical talks' with Iran, despite the prior days of tit-for-tat bombings.
"Technical talks between the US and Iran are continuing, according to a US official, following two days of clashes that threatened to shatter an already fragile ceasefire between the two nations," reports Bloomberg , also late in the day Thursday.
"The US is still committed to finding a solution with Iran , the official said Thursday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter."
Israel says ready to attack Iran for 'third time if necessary' pic.twitter.com/KDkJ62iEfJ
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) July 10, 2026
So it appears there's still hope that things might not spiral further.
As for the alleged assassination plot, this isn't the first time Iran has faced such accusations, and each time Tehran officials have vehemently denied them.
Speakers
10speakers32%attributed speech890writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Selected voice
0%flagged-word coverageThe New York Times
138 attributed words33% of attributed speech18% writer coverage
Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.