https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/30/politics/trump-iran-war-strait-of-hormuz-bloc...President Donald Trump’s maritime blockade is the latest attempt to test a thus far unproven theory of the Iran war — that superior US might will inevitably break the Islamic Republic.
The strategy is based on a simple premise: The strangulation of Iran’s oil exports and the imports that sustain regular life there will trigger societal collapse. This will build unbearable pressure on the regime to bow to US demands to permanently renounce its nuclear program.
In Washington, this seems logical. Every nation, whether a radical theocracy or Western democracy, will crumble if it can’t assure access to the basics — food, energy and work. When US officials see soaring inflation, catastrophic job losses and shortages in Tehran, they conclude the two-week blockade is working.
“The blockade is genius, OK?” Trump said Wednesday. “Their economy is in real trouble. It’s a dead economy.” The president is so pleased with the plan that he’s steeled aides for it to last much longer, CNN reported.
One reason is that it’s a way of heaping pressure on Iran without risking US casualties with ground operations or resuming bombing that was relentless but inconclusive. Another is that it seeks to restore US leverage in economic warfare eroded when Iran set off a global crisis by closing the Strait of Hormuz.
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