By Tyler Durden

• This should come as no surprise after the much-publicized military command reshuffle of a week ago, but a top Iranian official has told Reuters that the country is shifting from a defense posture to a "fully offensive" one in its conflict with the United States:
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• Iran has decided to shift its policy from defensive to a “fully offensive” one, a senior Iranian official tells Reuters
• Iran has set a deadline of a few weeks for the full implementation of the MoU by the US, the official says
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• All Iranian entities will be prepared to escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and the region if diplomacy fails, the official warns
• Iran will not wait for the US to continue the naval blockade indefinitely, the official adds
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• While bonds and stocks moved on the headline, oil was left little impacted - again perhaps become Tehran had already for days been signaling this new 'offensive' messaging as a policy shift..
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• President Trump has issued some fresh Monday remarks on Iran, after a weekend where he was relatively quiet on the conflict he launched nearly six months ago, which has long been the central controversial decision made as Commander-in-Chief, threatening to define his whole second term.     In a short interview with Fox News reporter Trey Yingst, who frequently reports from Jerusalem and the Middle East, Trump threatened to bomb Oman if the Gulf country "gets in the way" of US efforts to negotiate and strike a favorable peace deal with Iran."I asked the president about... parallel talks that are taking place between Iran and Oman about control of the Strait of Hormuz," Yingst introduced. Trump then responded: “if Oman gets in the way [of US control in the Strait of Hormuz], we'll bomb the s**t out of them. 

• But already, Oman and Iran have been hammering out a nearly finalized Hormuz Strait deal, which essentially cuts the United States out of negotiations and management of the vital energy transit waterway. The deal is widely seen as ceding to Tehran de facto control of the strait, and thus also giving the Iranians major continued leverage in the ongoing standoff and conflict with Washington. The timing of Trump's remarks are further interesting given that on the same day, 60-day window established in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) inked between the US and Iran in June has finally expired.

  Claire's Observations:  One has to wonder just what President Trump and Secretary of War Hegseth have planned, in terms of maintaining this blockade.

  This   Administration has created a situation where the Iranians don't believe that it is possible to negotiate with them in good faith, and without that, the only recourse will be military.  

  I would like to hope that cooler heads can prevail,  but  am absolutely, desperately looking for one one the US side who could actually pull this off through negotiations,  but see no one on the horizon.  

  My suggestions to Mike;s readers still stand;  please, take care of yourselves, because in a crisis situation, the only thing this government can, and will, protect... is itself.