Iran changed the rules in Hormuz. The Gulf is changing the rules for Iran

At dinner on the 44th floor of the Waldorf Astoria in Doha this week, no missiles crossed the skyline. No warning alerts interrupted the conversation. Traffic moved smoothly below, and the city lights glittered.This is what normal now looks like in Doha, Qatar. The city functions despite reduced energy exports, Iranian attacks and a war changing how Gulf governments defend themselves.More than five months into the conflict, the military tempo has slowed. The central dispute now is over who sets the rules in the Gulf.On Friday, a US official said Iran and Oman could soon reach an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Washington said it would lift its blockade of Iranian ports once commercial shipping resumed without impediments. Less than a day later, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps rejected Washington’s account. Reopening Hormuz, its spokesman said, depends on the United States accepting Iran’s conditions, not on an agreement with Oman.Oman has narrowed the dispute to a route through Hormuz. It has not settled who controls the territorial waters.Washington wants commercial vessels to move through an international waterway without Iranian permission or tolls. Tehran wan...