President Trump named the order on Monday. "The first phase is the opening of the straits. The second phase will be the denuclearization," he told reporters. "And that will take a little while." [1]

He said new talks were Iran's "last chance before decapitation" and that Hormuz could open "literally by tomorrow," while denuclearization "has to happen" and would take longer. He insisted conversations were already running even as Tehran denied them. "We are talking right now," he said. [2]

The two-phase plan is a Washington product. Spectrum's report of the Oval Office remarks and Arab News's White House pool both record the same sequence. Neither records an Iranian signature on either phase. [1][2]

The paper has watched this escalation-and-retreat cycle three times since May. A phase list is not a memorandum. Phase one is a waterway Iran says stays closed until US "aggression" stops. Phase two is a nuclear file Tehran has not put on a US table this week. The order is clear. The other party is not.

He also said the United States remained "ready to go" and that he would rather make a deal because "a lot of people die." Readiness and phases can coexist. A signed instrument cannot be inferred from either.

-- SAMUEL CRANE, Washington