The Institute for the Study of War recorded a meeting that Tehran still will not name. US President Donald Trump announced on August 2 that US and Iranian officials would soon meet to discuss reopening the Strait of Hormuz and nuclear issues. [1]

ISW's August 3 special report places that claim against the IRGC faction it says now dominates decision-making. Supreme Leader military adviser Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezaei said the same day that Iran will not allow a second corridor in the strait "under any circumstances." [1]

The report's other thread is internal. Senior cleric Mohammad Bagher Kharrazi claimed Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei warned President Masoud Pezeshkian that another resignation threat would be accepted. ISW treats the claim as unproven but noteworthy because of Kharrazi's family ties. [1]

A meeting expected on Hormuz and the nuclear program is therefore still an American sentence. Baghaei's Monday briefing, covered separately in this edition, denies current talks with the United States. The paper holds both records. Trump said officials would soon meet. Iran said they would not. ISW published the first sentence and the IRGC rebuttal on the same page.

The Critical Threats mirror of the same report repeats the Trump meeting line and Rezaei's "under any circumstances" ban on a second corridor. Two houses, one cutoff. [2]

-- YOSEF STERN, Jerusalem