Iran seems more inclined to wait out Trump than strike a deal, expert says

Long lines formed at gas stations in Bandar Abbas on Saturday, May 16, amid what a citizen described as a crisis in access to gasoline, a video sent to Iran International shows.

Iran faces a daily gasoline shortage of 30 million liters, according to a member of Iran’s parliamentary energy committee.

A member of Iran’s parliamentary presiding board said President Masoud Pezeshkian’s creation of a special cyberspace taskforce violates the country’s seventh development plan and is inconsistent with the Islamic Republic’s broader policy framework.

Alireza Salimi said Iran already has the Supreme Council of Cyberspace and the National Cyberspace Center, with clearly defined responsibilities.

“How is it possible for the president, who is himself the head of the Supreme Council of Cyberspace, to transfer the council’s authority to a body outside the council?” Salimi said.

The criticism follows earlier objections from lawmaker Mostafa Pourdehghan, who called the task force “decorative” and said such decisions were mostly psychological and were unlikely to bring concrete change.

Pezeshkian recently announced the formation of the task force and appointed First Vice President Mohammadreza Aref to lead it, saying it would promote “integrated governance” of cyberspace, end “multiple voices” and prevent overlapping responsibilities among state bodies.

The taskforce has been formed as Iran’s internet has remained largely cut off for more than 70 days since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran.

Iran has ordered an “immediate comprehensive response plan” to all operational levels of its armed forces following recent threats by US President Donald Trump, Nournews, a website close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, reported, citing an informed military official.

“Under the issued directive, the smallest miscalculation or hostile action by the United States will face heavy and simultaneous fire against a diverse range of its interests and infrastructure in the region,” the official said.

The official said some of the restraints applied in previous military planning had been removed, and targets that were not struck during the war were now given operational priority.

Nournews said the plan takes into account seasonal vulnerabilities, summer climate conditions, energy pressures, logistical chokepoints, US regional and extra-regional weaknesses and global challenges.

Iran has prepared a mechanism to manage traffic through the Strait of Hormuz along a designated route and will unveil it soon, according to Ebrahim Azizi, head of parliament’s national security committee.

Azizi said only commercial vessels and parties cooperating with Iran would benefit from the arrangement.

He added that Iran would collect fees for specialized services provided under the mechanism.

Lebanese MP Fouad Makhzoumi welcomed the 45-day extension of the ceasefire with Israel, saying it marked a step toward restoring Lebanon’s sovereignty and ending the role of weapons outside state control.

“The era of weapons outside the state has ended, and the era of Lebanon reclaiming its full sovereignty has begun,” Makhzoumi wrote on X.

His comments were aimed at Iran-backed Hezbollah, whose independent military power has long been at the center of Lebanon’s sovereignty dispute.

Makhzoumi, a Beirut member of parliament and founder of the National Dialogue Party, said the ceasefire extension and the launch of political and security tracks under US sponsorship in Washington were an “advanced step” toward strengthening the Lebanese state and making the army the sole authority responsible for protecting the country’s borders, land and people.

The ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon was extended by 45 days after talks in Washington, with further negotiations expected in early June, according to the US State Department.

US and Israeli pressure on Beirut has focused in part on disarming Hezbollah, while previous ceasefire arrangements and UN resolutions have called for the disarmament of armed groups outside the Lebanese state.

Hezbollah has not been a direct party to the Israel-Lebanon talks, leaving its weapons and military autonomy a central obstacle to any lasting settlement.