Andrea Dessi of the American University of Rome believes the recent escalation shows that the US-Iran MoU is “extremely delicate and has the possibility of collapsing at any moment”, according to Al Jazeera.

“Clearly, it is in the interest of both sides, Iran and the United States, not to let this escalate into a further all-out conflict,” he said.

Dessi believes there is “a new normal of something that we will be seeing repeatedly, especially over the next 30 or 60 days”, while the sides try to negotiate.

“Both sides have a specific interest in demonstrating that their ability to control or command the strait is in their hands,” the analyst was quoted as saying.

“Therefore, this is setting up something of a tension and a potential clash, which could spiral out of control at any moment.”