The Iran conflict has entered its metaphysical phase. Like Erwin Schrödinger’s famous thought experiment involving a cat that is simultaneously dead and alive, in the Strait of Hormuz there is both a war and a ceasefire.
On the one hand, President Donald Trump sent a letter to Congress on May 1 officially informing them that the “hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated.” On Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that the ceasefire that came into effect on April 7 was still in force. Even Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, posted on X that events in the Strait of Hormuz “make clear that there’s no military solution to a political crisis.”
