In the long and fractured history between Washington and Tehran, Monday offered another chapter of mutual accusation and missed connection — a day when both sides claimed to be seeking resolution while publicly denying the other's account of reality. With Iran's Supreme Leader tightening his grip on the civilian government and the Strait of Hormuz transformed into a bargaining chip, the world's most consequential shipping lane became the stage for a confrontation that is as much about the architecture of power as it is about oil and water. The distance between a negotiation announced and a neg