Middle East expert on day 2 of blockade

What makes you more optimistic, and what made you more pessimistic then? I think the Americans came in with a sense that this was going to be very quick, that they were going to be able to get the Iranians to give in because the Americans are more powerful. The Iranians are really interested in being in a process, it seems to me. They are willing to give up some small things. They really want to be in a process. That feels to me like the Iranians are sending signals that they want to talk. The Americans are sending signals they're willing to talk. We'll talk about the terms. We'll talk about how long. But that will get us away from the war and towards solving the war and opening up global trade. Is that emblematic of the larger war, the US going in thinking it will be quick because we have a larger or mightier military? We thought a lot of things were going to happen very quickly. Nothing happens quickly with the Iranians. It's partly because they're pretty resilient. They can take a lot of pain, and they think they can take pain more than we can, partly because they're not democratic. They're not really worried about elections. They're buckling down. They've been preparing for this kind of conflict for 50 years. We see it as a sort of speed bump before midterm elections. Their bet is that they can wait us out, and it's not clear that they're wrong. I think that the Trump administration really wants to figure out, Is there an off-ramp? and if there is, how do we explore it? Can these empty tankers coming to fill up on American crude make a difference in global oil supply and prices? As I said, there's a lot of oil that's already at sea. My understanding is a lot of that is going to be arriving. How long it takes for these tankers to fill up to get to ports, whether it's the right kind of oil for what kind of refineries-- because different refineries take different kinds of oil. I think the market is both going to be disrupted but also people are going to be antsy about, am I going to be able to get oil in a month or two months? And that's going to keep prices up.

Jon Alterman, thank you. Thank you, Lindsey.

A quick programming note. Tune in this Thursday for a special edition of The Daily Report. From gas prices to airline fees to mortgage rates, we'll take a deep dive into how the war is affecting your wallet. I will be joined throughout the hour by our team of correspondents and experts. "The Daily Report-- Setting It Straight" airs Thursday at 6:00 PM Eastern right here on CBS News 24/7.