The ceasefire that Pakistan brokered eleven days ago, and that both Washington and Tehran have spent every day since systematically violating, expires on Wednesday. By Sunday morning it had already acquired the texture of a final hours. Iran re-closed the Strait of Hormuz on April 18 after briefly declaring it open the previous day, the IRGC opened fire on commercial vessels in the waterway including Indian-flagged ships, and Donald Trump posted a threat on Truth Social to destroy every power plant and bridge in Iran if a deal was not reached. Within the hour, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei responded on X, in the same register and in the same medium, calling the U.S. naval blockade “unlawful and criminal.” The war is now being conducted simultaneously in two theaters: the Strait of Hormuz, where the physical machinery of coercion operates, and social media, where both governments are managing the narrative of an oil price and a negotiating position at the same time. The gap between these two theaters is where the current catastrophe lives.
