Yes, A president with such a strong social media presence is a new force in

global diplomacy. And it's not always the most diplomatic

tone in our reporting. Talking to officials in Washington, as

well as diplomats in the Middle East, suggests that Iran.

Isn't that keen on some of the president's sentiments, and it is making

it more difficult to resume negotiations and do the very difficult work of

brokering some kind of longer term deal to bring an end to this conflict.

The specific problem is probably around the Strait of Hormuz, which is the focus

of the whole crisis now. Last weekend.

If you remember, the Iranians said that the strait was open and the president

was very quick to say, well, I blew that blockade, stayed in place.

And I think that made it difficult for the talks to resume.

And that's what's dominated this week with the president continuing to say

that the blockade is in place and to threaten.

It's extreme actions. If he doesn't get his way.

What does all this mean for energy markets that we've been watching the

price of oil creeping up through this week and heading for a weekly gain for

the first time since the war started? That's right.

I think that going again, going back to last Friday, Stephen, when the Iranians

said the strait was open, there was a really positive reaction from oil

traders who thought that finally that was the likely resolution and that ships

might start leaving the Gulf and get back and the energy market could begin

the long process of getting back to normal.

And I think this week that optimism has really faded and we've seen a steady

ratcheting up in the oil price as a result.

It's really worth bearing in mind that although the intense military action,

the bombing has stopped, the strait is probably more closed than it ever has

been. And we're not getting the oil and the

fuel that we need out of the Persian Gulf.

And it is increasingly going to strain energy markets and have an impact on

consumers around the world. Hmm.

How much pressure is Iran really under then from the U.S.

blockade? I mean, the whole point of these barrage

of social media posts is to pressure Iran.

That would be the U.S. argument, surely.

Yeah, it's a really, really interesting and important question.

It does seem to be having an impact on Iran's ability to export oil, but it had

been exporting oil throughout the war and exporting oil at very healthy

prices. So it's probably got a little bit of a

financial buffer. I think the real interesting question

for people in energy markets and who are watching to see what happens is at what

point if Iran can't export, it has to shut down its oil fields because it

doesn't have the room to put the oil. That's what we've seen in countries like

Kuwait and Iraq during this crisis. Exactly the same thing.

And there is some view among oil people that because Iranian oil fields are

quite old, that when you shut them down, that's a big problem to the long term

prospects of those fields that the Iranians will want to avoid it.

That's one view. The other view is that the Iranians are

very resilient, that they are no strangers to conflict.

There are times that oil production has been suppressed there in the past and

they've come through it. So

divided views.