President Donald Trump had warned that Iran's "whole civilization" would die if the Strait of Hormuz was not reopened by 8 p.m. EDT Tuesday.
But less than two hours before that deadline, Iran's Supreme National Security Council accepted Trump's two-week ceasefire and said it would negotiate with the United States in Pakistan beginning Friday.
Like Commander Kirk Lippold, retired Air Force fighter pilot Derek Jones is skeptical.
"We really can't trust the Iranians," he asserts. "What I do trust is President Trump and his ability to kind of negotiate something."
He thinks the fact that Vice President JD Vance is heading up the negotiating team makes a "significant statement."
"He's got enough trust that he's actually sending his vice president to be physically present to talk negotiations, but the Iranians have consistently been untruthful, consistently don't follow through with their commitments, as we've known diplomatically now for years," Jones notes.
Meanwhile, word of a new leadership group in Iran indicates there may be some internal fighting in the Islamic republic between whoever negotiators have been speaking to and the former regime, who is still speaking into the public ear.
The Iranian state media says the ceasefire means the war is won, but if that is true, then Jones says he would "hate to see what losing looks like for them."
Though the ceasefire gives Iran political breathing room and protects it from immediate strikes, the U.S. is considered to have the short-term military advantage. Disruptions to much of the world's oil supply are also reduced.
So while "a lot of people" are benefiting from what has taken place this week, Jones thinks "we're just going to have to wait [and] see what develops over the next couple of days."
He expects them to be interesting.
