The Wall Street Journal says the option was live, multiple sit-downs with Hegseth and Caine in recent days, before Trump chose to keep talking and even signaled the August 18 deadline can slide.
Axios filled in what "talking" looks like: technical teams in Doha, a one-week understanding to avoid new clashes in the strait, and an American pitch that sanctions relief under a bigger deal would be worth "100 times" more to Iran than charging tolls.
Larry Johnson thinks one number explains the restraint.
The Strategic Petroleum Reserve sits near 325 MILLION barrels, and 252.4 million is the legal floor where drawdown authority locks up.
A new bombing campaign devours aviation fuel, aviation fuel comes from the reserve, and the reserve is 73 million barrels from handcuffs.
Add a fuel shortage he expects to bite within weeks, relief tankers 40 days out, and a troop withdrawal order that still hasn't been rescinded, and the knife's edge gets very narrow.
Even the weekend's darkest chatter bent to that logic.
With Medvedev confirmed at the funeral and a senior Chinese delegation expected, Larry's take on any strike scenario was flat: that's suicide, with the world watching.
@NewSonof
