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Hormuz Conflict: Day 70
By Behnam Mohammadi
Both sides are seeking a temporary arrangement to prevent renewed conflict and stabilize strait shipping, raising hopes of a breakthrough.
Welcome to the Kayhan Life Week in Review
Following weeks of missile strikes, barbed tirades, and backroom negotiations, hopes rose for a short-term deal between the United States and the Islamic Republic. Yet even as the possibility of an agreement grew, repression inside Iran did not pause. Arrests, executions, job losses, internet shutdowns, and deepening poverty continued to define daily life for Iranians trapped between war, repression, and economic collapse.
►Inside Iran, to crush dissent, not a day passed without the state announcing executions. These follow what international human rights groups describe as unfair trials relying on forced confessions after torture.
Iran Executes Man Convicted Over Killing Of Security Officer In 2022 Unrest
Iran Executes Two for Spying for Israel
►Meanwhile, Iranian workers marked International Workers’ Day with anxiety rather than celebration. War, prolonged internet shutdowns lasting over 70 days, and years of stagflation have accelerated layoffs across industrial, service, and production sectors. Independent labor unions remain suppressed, while wages and job security have fallen far behind the cost of survival.
Iranian Workers Face Job Losses, Increasing Poverty
►Amid these troubles, women have borne the brunt of Iran’s breakdown. For many Iranian women, work has become another front line in a widening national crisis. For those pushed out of work, the crisis exposes the state’s cultural DNA.
Iran’s Economic Crisis Hits Women Hardest As They Suffer Mass Layoffs
►A Reuters special report added further layers to the economic story: patronage, corruption, sanctioned institutions, and crypto as a lifeline for the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
Special Report: One Of Iran’s Most Powerful Families Founded Its Largest Crypto Exchange. It’s Used By The IRGC To Move Millions
►On the international front, the crisis centered on the Strait of Hormuz as well as finance and global energy markets. On May 1, the Islamic Republic submitted a proposal through Pakistani mediators for negotiations with Washington, aimed at reopening shipping and ending the U.S. blockade while leaving the nuclear dispute for later. That same day, Washington warned shippers not to pay proposed Hormuz tolls to the Iranian regime, even if framed as charitable donations.
Trump Says US Could Restart Iran Strikes ‘If They Misbehave’
Iran Hands Over New Proposal For Talks With US To End War
US Treasury Warns Shippers Not To Pay Hormuz Tolls, Even In Form Of Charity
►Despite diplomatic overtures, the military picture darkened over the weekend, and the delicate truce appeared to be on the verge of breaking.
Middle East Truce In Doubt As US And Iran Fight For Control Of Strait Of Hormuz
US Destroys Six Iranian Small Boats, Shoots Down Missiles, Drones, Admiral Says Bulk Carrier
Reports Being Attacked By Multiple Small Craft Off Iran, UKMTO Says
►Nevertheless, diplomacy continued to advance. Washington and the Islamic Republic appeared to be edging toward a limited memorandum rather than a comprehensive peace deal. The proposed framework would unfold in three stages: ending the war, resolving the Hormuz crisis, and opening a 30-day window for wider talks. Such an agreement could halt fighting and stabilize shipping but would leave the hardest questions unresolved: the future of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program and enriched uranium stockpiles.
US and Iran Inch Towards Short-Term Deal to End Fighting
What’s Included in Talks to End the Iran War and Reopen Hormuz?
►Finally, in culture, French-Iranian playwright Aila Navidi used the stage of France’s Molière Awards to speak for Iranian people caught between bombs and repression. She quoted a woman in Iran who wrote to her, “If we don’t die under the bombs, the Islamic Republic will kill us.”
At France’s Molière Awards, Playwright Aila Navidi Makes Stirring Speech on Iran |
