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Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026

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Also fails to note that the blockade came about after Iran failed to open the strait as agreed as part of the ceasefire.

April 7-April 8: They agreed to a ceasefire, but the stated conditions were not fulfilled from the US end of the bargain. Israel and Lebanon were still at war. They did not "fail to open the strait as agreed" as the conditions they set were not met.

April 13th: US blockade takes effect, Israel/Lebanon still at war.

April 16th: Israel/Lebanon ceasefire.

April 18th: Iran makes some moves to open up but says

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf,

On the Strait of Hormuz, he said that, with the "continuation of the [US] blockade", the Strait "will not remain open".

Iran of course had not agreed to conditions including a US blockade during the ceasefire talks. They did not "fail to open the strait as agreed" as the conditions they set have now not been met due to the US adding a blockade in and changing the situation.

siding with the IRGC is preferable to siding with Trump.

People acknowledging reality are not "siding" with anyone but public truth. We can't see their closed door talks but we can see things like the Pakistan PM who negotiated the ceasefire who literally said

including Lebanon and elsewhere, EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.

This isn't siding with the IRGC to acknowledge the publicly stated ceasefire terms were being violated by Israel up until the 16th. It's not siding with the IRGC to acknowledge the obvious truths that the ceasefire agreement did not include the US blockade that came after the talks.

The United States did not agree to an Israel/Lebanon ceasefire on April 7-8.

The United States did not agree to an Israel/Lebanon ceasefire on April 7-8.

Then why did the Pakistan PM announce it as such? Maybe there was a misunderstanding and the conditions were not actually agreed upon, but the publicly stated conditions did include Israel/Lebanon.

Then why did the Pakistan PM announce it as such?

Perhaps to stir up trouble. In any case, that Pakistan was the location of the talks does not let the Pakistan PM speak for either party.

That seems unlikely. In peace negotiations, you generally can't chose whom you are negotiating with. Iran can't say they would prefer not to talk with the US and talk with the UK instead, nor can Trump negotiate a ceasefire with Iraq instead.

But generally the host country is one which both sides can agree on. Iran can reject peace talks in Israel, and the US can reject peace talks in Lebanon. Pakistan was something both were willing to agree to, presumably because both thought that Islamabad would not fuck them over.

Generally, the host country has diplomatic influence on the line. If they fuck over either side, e.g. by misrepresenting the ceasefire terms, their diplomatic influence with one side will evaporate. With the Taliban trouble, Pakistan is unlikely to stab the US in the back. So in short, I would trust the host much more than I would trust either side.

Pakistan is the country that was making nice with the US for years while concealing Osama bin Laden and harboring the Taliban (same Taliban they're warring with now, ironically). Them causing trouble is pretty much par for the course.

Apart from Iran, which doesn't have the option, "Don't sponsor Wahhabi jihadis as a plausibly deniable political tool against your sane enemies" is a lesson countries apparently have to learn the hard way, and in the case of the US and Pakistan more than once. Many such cases - I think it needs to go into a Princess Bride remake before people take the lesson seriously.

Perhaps to stir up trouble.

Then why has the US not said anything about Pakistan, their continued host for negotiations, fucking with the ceasefire?

There's only three explanations I can come up with.

  1. There was a misunderstanding of the conditions, and therefore there was no agreed upon ceasefire conditions to violate by either side.

  2. The US side has lied, Israel/Lebanon was included and they realized they couldn't get Israel to stop in time/never planned to follow through on it anyway and just hoped Iran would open regardless.

  3. Pakistan lied, despite no accusations from the US about this and continued usage of them as a host for negotiations, actively interfered in the agreed on ceasefire conditions and destroyed the deal.

Why are those the only three explanations you could come up with?

You insert two or three conditional cluses per explanation. You could increase your explanations merely by modifying those.

Then why has the US not said anything about Pakistan, their continued host for negotiations, fucking with the ceasefire?

The US has denied that Israel/Lebanon was part of the ceasefire initially, and suggested it was a "misunderstanding".

From all appearances, this is academic, however; the people the US is negotiating with do not have the power to open the strait.

The US has denied that Israel/Lebanon was part of the ceasefire initially, and suggested it was a "misunderstanding".

So let's go back to what you said. "after Iran failed to open the strait as agreed as part of the ceasefire."

Well as you yourself say, there was a misunderstanding. They didn't fail to open the strait "as agreed", because there was no actual agreed upon ceasefire deal to begin with. They both might have thought there was for a short period, but the misunderstanding was quickly seen and the mistaken deal never took effect.