AUSTRALIA PERSPECTIVE

Canberra watches the saga with sharpened skepticism, counting the unkept promises as one follows a match whose outcome keeps slipping away. The Australian press keeps the tally: Trump has declared 'at least 39 times' that a deal was close, imminent or nearly complete. Each time, 'the markets rally, oil prices fall, political pressure on the White House eases — and yet no resolution comes.' The analysis goes beyond the count: for Australian media, the emerging terms 'reflect Iran's negotiating position much more than what Trump had been demanding for months' — it is 'the Islamic Republic about to serve for the match.' Iranian minister Abbas Araghchi makes no secret of it: 'Iran is the winner of the war with the US,' he tells state television, while the 'Islamabad Memorandum has never been closer.' Coverage flags the characteristic dissonance: hours after these optimistic statements, US forces shot down several Iranian drones heading toward the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of the world's oil flows, largely closed for months. With geographic distance helping, the Australian press takes on the role of the lucid spectator untangling drama from facts: the war, narrated 'through the eyes of the US president,' has killed thousands and sent energy prices soaring, and a fragile ceasefire is not enough to erase the 'oscillating cycle' of dashed hopes.