US-Iran negotiations are currently at a standstill, with little progress in the near future. Experts believe this is due to Iran using the US midterm elections as a pretext:
1. Alex Plitsas, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, believes that Iran is highly focused on the US midterm elections and is therefore unlikely to offer Trump significant political gains before then, at least in the short term, limiting the scope for further negotiations.
2. The JPMorgan Chase team stated that the recent meeting between Iran and Gulf states was canceled primarily because Iran insisted on imposing mandatory fees for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, which the Gulf states refused to accept.
3. Saudi Arabia's east-west oil pipelines have also become a new risk point. Experts disagree on when the pipelines will be restored, ranging from "quickly" to "weeks," and further attacks are still possible. (The above views are from a JPMorgan Chase report dated September 15th.)
