Iran deal doesn't look like a winner

A ceasefire deal between the United States and Iran has given various nations, consumers and businesses a strong jolt of hope and relief that the Strait of Hormuz will soon reopen. The waterway's closure has been choking off the flow of petroleum and other products out of the Mideast, driving gasoline and other prices sky-high.

Now we are promised a return to commercial shipping as it existed before the United States and Israel began bombing Iran. President Donald Trump's announcement was applauded at a G7 meeting in France Monday, although details of the agreement have not been officially released and each side is spinning the terms in its favor. 

But let's remember what preceded this possible ending. The warfare to date resulted in 13 U.S. service members killed and at least 400 injured. Between 1,700 and 2,100 civilians died in the bombardment of Iran, with some estimates higher. More than 3,400 have died in the related Lebanon conflict, and 28 in Persian Gulf states. Damage to infrastructure, including civilian facilities, American equipment and military bases, is certainly in the billions. Plus, the United States burned through a stockpile of munitions with that estimated cost starting at $25 billion.

What's likely to follow from here remains as unclear as our priorities have been all along. The current, shaky ceasefire is extended by 60 days for the sides to discuss a more lasting settlement. This period will supposedly be used to negotiate curbs on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

The nuclear element struck many skeptics as suspiciously similar, at least in principle, to the Iran deal reached nearly 11 years ago under President Barack Obama. But Vice President JD Vance insists the Trump team is winning something far better that also promises Iran prosperity. Vance firmly denies the sanctions relief is equivalent to unfreezing Iran's assets as occurred a decade ago.

"What is true," Vance declared Monday, "is that Iran will have a much better and much more prosperous future if they meet the obligations they make in this agreement."

Israel is detached from this deal. The Netanyahu government is bent on continuing to attack southern Lebanon where Iran's proxy Hezbollah is massed. After all, despite the killing in February of Iranian Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top leaders, the theocracy there survives, under his son Mojtaba Khamenei, and the repressive Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Diplomatically, a string of hostility-laced words and demands from the White House have frayed trust with Europe. Persian Gulf states, under Iranian military threat, are seeking economic and political understandings with the ayatollah, a sign of doubt about the reliability of U.S. involvement.

This deal so far is minimal at best. Americans will still be owed a full accounting of what we lost and gained from a military incursion of the kind Trump promised voters he'd avoid. Especially now, Congress will need to come alive as an honest monitor to check the dubious judgment of this administration.