The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 7th August 2026
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 7th August 2026
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Oil prices dip following another lull in the fighting in the Persian Gulf amid rumours of new plans to revive the stalled Iranian-American peace agreement. The Saudis claim credit for persuading the Americans to put another wave of American attacks on hold to create space for more third-party mediation.
The guns remain silent but the dialogue of threats continues with Trump warning that Iran would be “hit very hard” if the Strait of Hormuz is not reopened “very soon”. The Islamic Republic threatens to hit the utilities and energy facilities of America’s feudal Arab allies if the USA strikes Iran’s infrastructure. But in the corridors of power in the Western world, few believe that the Trump administration can end the war – except on Iranian terms. And this is reflected in the instability in the oil market and the global trust flight to safe-haven assets such as gold, silver and platinum.
Meanwhile, two Saudi oil tankers were hit in the Red Sea that remains more or less closed by the north Yemeni Houthi government. Resistance is growing in the West Bank following relentless Zionist settler attacks on Arab civilians in the runup to the Israeli elections. And Israel continues air attacks on Lebanon after two Israeli soldiers were killed and many more wounded in a resistance attack on one of their posts in their “buffer zone” in southern Lebanon.
Chinese academician Zhu Yongbiao says that Washing ton’s hesitation over a ceasefire in the Middle East stems from long-standing structural contradictions. While the Americans believe they have overwhelming military strength, they are unwilling to bear the high costs of a prolonged conflict in terms of time, money and casualties, leaving a widening gap between their capabilities, strategic objectives and actual outcomes.
“Combined with the US president’s deal-making approach centred on maximum pressure and continued lobbying by Israel, these factors have deepened policy indecision” he said. Such constraints have persisted across successive US administrations and are unlikely to disappear any time soon, meaning the trajectory of the crisis may ultimately hinge on Trump’s personal judgement.
Zhu said many observers have long misjudged the situation by underestimating Iran’s national cohesion, resilience and religious mobilisation while over-estimating the effectiveness of external military intervention. The mismatch between Washington’s expectations and realities on the battlefield has contributed to the current stalemate.
The Iranians say there’s been no fresh talks with the Trump team nor has there been any confirmation by the international mediators who helped draw up the Memorandum of Understanding which was supposed to be the road-map that would end the conflict in the Persian Gulf. What is true is that there have been talks between Iran and Oman – the Gulf state on the other side of the Strait of Hormuz – on their future control of the strategic waterway.
According to the Arab media there will be two traffic lanes, one along the Omani coast and the Emirates and another along the Iranian coast. The Islamic Republic wants a five per cent toll. The Omanis will settle for three and the Americans don’t want any charges at all for passage through what had been considered an international waterway before Trump launched his treacherous attack on Iran in February. And all of this is somewhat academic at the moment with barely a ship getting through the double block ade of the Strait of Hormuz that used to carry around one-fifth of the world’s seaborne oil.