day eighty-eight (13. 466)

After nearly three months of a total internet blackout, Iran has restored access to most media platforms. A day after Israel‘s most intense airstrikes, Hezbollah fighters and IDF clash on the northern bank of the border zone demarcated by the Litani river. With conflicting accounts as to the progress towards a peace deal—Tehran saying that no settlement has been reached regarding reopening the Strait of Hormuz, its reserve of enriched uranium not on the agenda at all—despite Washington suggesting that it could be destroyed by IAEA authorities, insisting that no piecemeal decisions will be made without respect to unfreezing Iranian funds and reparations, countering the narrative of the Trump administration that Tehran is desperately seeking a any deal and on the contrary making Trump seem cornered. A cabinet meeting is scheduled for the White House, changing the planned venue from Camp David to discuss with officials plans to extricate themselves from this situation of their own making with a veneer of victory.