President rejects Iran's seven-day ceasefire plan, counteroffers on it, expects the bombing after the midterms

…(cont) Before that, the twenty-fifth of August — hold on, I've got it here — Democracy Now reports Washington threatening a new economic war on Iran by going at China and Tehran's other top trading partners. Then the twenty-third of September, Iran's president stands up at the United Nations and says the United States and Israel are the real terrorists. That's Common Dreams.

Then the twenty-sixth. The Hill, off the Wall Street Journal, off U.S. officials: the president privately rejected Iran's seven-day proposal — seven days, a ceasefire and a phased reopening of the Strait of Hormuz — and is considering renewed military strikes after the midterm elections in November. The reason given is that he's skeptical about Iran's ability to honor it.

Now I get stuck, and it's the renewal notice again, I'm sorry. The twenty-sixth is the day the report surfaced. A private rejection doesn't come with a postmark on it. So the date in my notes is the day I was told, not the day it was decided. I've gone through the piece three times looking for that line and I've come up with it zero times out of three. Maybe you'll do better.

And then this morning. CBS, the thirtieth: Iranian state media says the regime has received a full U.S. response to that same proposal — the ceasefire, the phased reopening. The headline says Iran is considering the U.S. counterproposal. That's the wire's verb on what state media reported; I don't have Tehran's own word in front of me.

Can I show you something out front? The car. There's a belt under the hood that's been squealing since the spring — fan belt, twelve dollars for the part. The fella at the garage on the corner told me to bring it by any Tuesday. Any Tuesday. And every week I look at the calendar and think, the plates are due, the dog's shots are due, I'll do it after. So I schedule the belt around my month. The belt has no idea about my month. It squealed all summer and it'll squeal through November, and it'll go one morning on a day I didn't pick, probably in the middle of the parkway.

So here's what I can't work out. The proposal on the table is seven days. The strikes in that report wait for the elections in November. The skepticism in the same report — which of those two numbers is it aimed at?

Ah — excuse me, before you go, I've got one arm in the sleeve here, one thing. Two wires, four days apart, and the same verb turns up in both. On the twenty-sixth, he's considering renewed military strikes after the midterms. On the thirtieth, Iran's considering the counterproposal. One of those two has a date attached to it in the receipts and the other one doesn't. Which one has the date?