Zealots Don’t Change
Trump is calling it peace. Iran is calling it progress. History suggests it's neither.
Zealots don’t stop being zealots just because they sign a piece of paper.
That’s the first thing worth remembering as Donald Trump celebrates what he’s calling a peace deal with Iran.
Peace deal.
Those two words are doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Because when you look beyond the triumphant announcement - on Trump’s 80th birthday no less - what we actually have is something far less impressive.
At best, this is an agreement to pause hostilities while everybody gets what they want.
Trump needs oil flowing through the Strait of Hormuz because the global economy runs on energy, and voters have an annoying habit of noticing when petrol prices spike.
Iran needs access to frozen assets and sanctions relief because revolutionary slogans don’t pay government salaries. Or fund terror proxies.
So both sides have found common ground.
Trump gets stability.
Iran gets cash.
The rest of us get told it’s peace.
Except it isn’t …
