He appears to be going for stalemate.

Of course, but not because he wants a stalemate.

Again, he wants a win. He wants Iran to accede to a deal that is better than the JCPOA. He wants the Strait to reopen. He wants oil prices to go down. He wants the UAE and Kuwait and Qatar and Saudi to be able to resume normal energy exports instead of being hindered by this conflict - so that he can go back to enriching himself with deals in those countries.

The reason he's continuing the stalemate is because he can't get that win. Iran is not going to agree to anything as good as the JCPOA at this time. His theory of the war has failed. Going into Iran and "tuning them up" has not made them more compliant. Neither has the blockade. Killing the leadership hasn't made them timid or fearful. Their oil pipes and tanks did not "explode" within a few days of their exports being reduced.

He's not trying to get a stalemate, he's not trying to have high global oil prices, he doesn't want to have to deal with the fallout of gas prices being well above $4.00 per gallon for the July 4th and possibly Labor Day weekends. He doesn't want that. But he can't get what he wants, which is for all those things to disappear in the rosy afterglow of a victory in Iran. So he is forced in the interim to accept a stalemate and try to talk the oil markets down....