John MacDonald: Is it a peace deal or a get out of jail card?

Author: John MacDonald,
Publish Date: Tue, 16 Jun 2026, 12:37pm

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"A slap in the face to all Iranian people."

That’s what an Iranian woman living in New Zealand is saying about this peace deal between the United States and Iran.

And I can understand why she feels that way. Because she’s saying it’s another case of meet the old boss, same as the old boss.

Which raises the question: is this actually a peace deal or is it a out of jail card for Donald Trump?

Trump will claim it’s a peace deal. But I don’t believe that for a minute.

But it will be enough to keep the president happy. He’ll probably even add it to his list of wars he has ended. Conveniently ignoring the fact that was also the one who started it.

But never let reality get in the way of delusion.

The benefit for Trump, though, in this whole thing going on way longer than some people thought it would, is that some people will have forgotten why it all started in the first place.

Even Trump seemed to forget pretty early on in proceedings.

But Mehrdad Soltanifar hasn’t forgotten.

She’s an Iranian living in New Zealand and she is gutted by what’s happened.

She’s saying today that any deal with the Islamic Republic is unacceptable. She had hoped the conflict would lead to a regime change and she says any agreement with the current “monstrous” regime feels like “a slap in the face” to all Iranian people.

But for everyone else who isn’t Iranian, they’ll just be thinking about diesel and petrol prices.

But don‘t go thinking it’s going to be back to the old days anytime soon.

Just because Donald Trump has told the shipping companies to start their engines and get the oil flowing around the world again, the outfits that own and run the ships won’t be quite so gung-ho.

Global shipping company Maersk, which has 700 container ships and operates in more than 130 countries, is saying it’s too early to know how the peace deal will impact logistics and maritime operations in the Middle East.

And we know why that is. The risk of mines planted by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.

Just the other day, the International Energy Agency said it could take a minimum of two to three months of mine clearing for things to get back to what they were before the war.

Which is why the shipping companies will be telling the commander in chief to cool his jets when he tells them to start their engines.

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