With the fragile ceasefire in the war in Iran holding so far, both sides of the conflict have an opportunity to end to the fighting.
10 News spoke with Virginia Tech Political Analyst and professor of Public Relations Dr. Cayce Myers, who says that there are political pressures on both sides to end the war.
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However, the ceasefire could only be sustained if all parties keep up good faith negotiations.
“You have Israel involved in this process with Iran and the United States,” Dr. Myers said. “You have Lebanon involved in it as well. So the real question is, is this a good faith ceasefire, is it something that can be sustained?”
Israel has pledged to begin its own peace negotiations with Lebanon. Each of these countries has its own wants and desires.
Iran has its own 10-points peace plan, which includes the lifting of sanctions and U.S. military withdrawal from the Middle East.
Dr. Myers, however, sees it as unlikely this plan would be agreed upon.
“It seems very unlikely that all of those 10 points would be agreed upon because they include things like nuclear enrichment and other things,” Dr. Myers said.
Meanwhile, Myers said he believes President Donald Trump, amidst mounting political pressure to bring an end to the war, would try to bring home a resolution that favors the United Sates.
“He has stated that one of his priorities is a non-nuclear Iran. I think he’s trying to resolve this in terms of the Strait of Hormuz,” Dr. Myers said. “I think he’s trying to kind of leverage all of this for kind of handling what he sees to be a global problem with Iran and this government and some of the behavior they’ve engaged in.”
Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, Dr. Myers says that control of the Strait and who gets to go through it are major factors in keeping the ceasefire going.
“This is one of those larger geopolitical questions because a lot of the people that are affected by this are not just the United States, but Europe and other countries that get their oil from this region, and they get their oil through the Strait.”
The Strait of Hormuz has been a critical element in the war, as its closure has led to rising oil prices and in turn increases at the gas pump, airline tickets and grocery items.
Dr. Myers said that this increase in prices could have an effect going into the midterm elections, predicting that Democrats will likely use the issue of rising oil costs and the war against President Trump and Republicans, which puts more pressure on the president to bring an end to the war.