Trump says Iran now wants a deal. He said this while his navy was blockading Iranian ports and oil was above 100 dollars a barrel. Peskov from Moscow responded that it was "still not clear what lifting the blockade would entail."

More than 15 American ships are involved in the operation. Trump threatens: "We will eliminate all Iranian ships that approach." Iran fires back: "As long as they attack our ports, our goal will be the ports in the Persian Gulf."

Nuclear talks in Islamabad collapsed — the US demanded a 20-year moratorium on uranium enrichment, Iran offered a few years. The stakes are enormous, and Trump says Iran "can never have nuclear weapons" — a declaration that sounds firm but has no enforcement mechanism short of military force.

When two sides blockading each other are simultaneously vowing to destroy each other's ports, talk of a "deal" sounds more like wishful thinking than diplomacy. And the consequences? They are already being felt — at every fuel pump from Texas to Tetovo.