[US Official Says US Prepared for Protracted Standoff with Iran] Golden Finance reports that on October 24th, US Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz stated in an interview published in the Financial Times on October 23rd that the US is prepared for a protracted standoff with Iran. A year later, the two sides may still be locked in a stalemate, perhaps still without an agreement on Iran's nuclear program, and shipping in the Strait of Hormuz may not return to pre-conflict levels. The US has the capability to maintain its blockade of Iranian ports for the foreseeable future. According to RIA Novosti on the 23rd, Fedda-Hossein Maliki, a member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said that Iran has issued an ultimatum to Middle Eastern countries, demanding that they cease all support for the US should war break out between Iran and the US. Otherwise, Iran's response will not only involve attacking these countries' military bases but also designating them as "hostile states." (CCTV International News)