Iran’s Ridiculous New Demands for Reopening Hormuz & Houthis Strike Saudi Arabia

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
This podcast is brought to you by Verst. Guys wear that guys wear.
This fantasy football draft season, Verst Limitless Pants should be at the top of every guy's watch list. Because while some guys are sweating whether to risk it all in an up and coming rookie, fall back on a trusted vet, or to just ride with whatever the auto draft tosses at them, gearing up with the Limitless Collection's versatility, comfort and style is always a sure thing. Verst. Guys wear that guys wear. Only at Dix.

**Mike Baker** (0:42)
It's Monday, the 10th of August. Welcome to The President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker. Your eyes and ears on the world stage. And for those of you keeping score at home, yes, the new college football season is right around the corner. Hotty toddy. All right, let's get briefed. First up, Iran is laying out a sweeping new list of demands. What would you look at them for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, including conditions that the Trump administration is almost certain to reject? We'll break down Tehran's latest proposal. Later in the show, Iran-backed Houthi militants strike a major Saudi refinery just days after Riyadh signed a new defense pact with Turkey and Pakistan. Plus, the Pentagon is pushing defense contractors to ramp up production as the war with Iran drains America's supply of critical weapons. And in today's Back of the Brief, Israel confirms a secret mission to hunt down every terrorist who took part in the October 7th massacres.
But first, today's BDB Spotlight.
Iran has now laid out its demands for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and the regime is basically asking for just about everything and a pony. Over the weekend, Iran's Supreme National Security Council unveiled a sweeping list of demands that Tehran says the US must accept before the Strait fully reopens. And here I thought we were close to a deal. According to whomever is actually in charge in Iran, Washington must permanently end the war with Iran, stop military action against Iran's regional allies, withdraw American forces from the area, lift the naval blockade on Iranian ports, remove sanctions, release frozen Iranian assets, compensate Tehran for war damage, and effectively promise not to threaten Iran again. And seriously, I am not making that list of demands up. That is what they're asking for. Iran is effectively demanding that the US concede nearly every major point of the war in exchange for Tehran ending the current maritime crisis. Now, obviously, this wish list of demands, one would think, is going to be rejected by the Trump administration. And this is happening at the same time that there had been growing optimism that negotiations between Iran and Oman could produce a breakthrough on Hormuz, or at least there was growing optimism on the part of certain folks. To be fair, there were significant discrepancies between the narratives coming out of the White House and the Iranian regime. The White House has been claiming that negotiations between the US and Iran were progressing well and a deal was within reach. The Iranians, on the other hand, were pushing back, saying that the only negotiations were between Iran and Oman in terms of managing the traffic through the strait.
Officials from both Iran and Oman now say that they are close to an agreement on a new system for controlling the traffic through the waterway. But, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi is now clarifying that any deal with Oman should not be confused with reopening the waterway. He said Sunday that there are currently no direct negotiations between Tehran and Washington and that intermediaries are still trying to restart them. According to Araqchi, the Oman talks are about technical and legal arrangements for shipping routes. Whether Hormuz actually reopens apparently is a separate question.
Now, the Trump administration had been signaling that an Oman agreement could restore normal commercial traffic through one of the world's most important energy corridors. Iran is now saying that even if a shipping arrangement is reached, the strait stays effectively closed and bless Washington agrees to Tehran's broader political demands and bizarre wishlist. And this is the point where the regime's leadership may be overplaying its hand. There is no question that Tehran has leverage. Keeping the Strait of Hormuz largely closed has disrupted energy markets, strained Gulf economies and increased pressure on Washington. And of course, they've also pushed their Houthi proxies to create similar unease in the Red Sea. At the same time, the war has also consumed large quantities of American weapons and missile interceptors. Iran knows that reopening the strait by force could be difficult, expensive and potentially require a much larger US military commitment. It also knows the conflict carries political costs for President Trump, with congressional elections approaching in November. From Tehran's perspective, every additional week of disruption increases pressure on Washington to make a deal. Iranian officials are talking as though time is on their side. One advisor to Iran's chief negotiator recently declared that Iran, not the US., will decide when the war ends. President Masoud Bizechkian has argued that Iran now appears victorious and powerful. That confidence, of course, helps explain the demands that we're now seeing. But there is a difference between having leverage and knowing just how far to push it. Iran could potentially use its control over Hormuz to secure meaningful concessions. Instead, it appears to be demanding something much closer to an American capitulation.