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Miranda Devine: Playing the Trump card vs. Tehran

A promising new stage in our six-week Iran “excursion” began Sunday with President Trump’s announcement that the US Navy, together with allies, will immediately begin to blockade “any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz.”

In wrestling terms, it’s a classic “swerve” move by the president, flipping the tables on his opponent.

Iran thought they had the world over an (oil) barrel. Turns out they signed their own economic death warrant.

The blockade is an inspired tactic pushed by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and former Green Beret-turned-UN Ambassador Mike Waltz as the logical next step after the Chinese and Russians last week vetoed the UN Security Council resolution led by the Gulf States for international cooperation to reopen the Hormuz Strait.

With half the US Navy positioned just outside the narrow strait, everything is in place to stop the ships Tehran needs to serve its biggest customer, China, which buys about 90% of Iran’s oil.

And the blockade is just the beginning of the maximum economic pain Trump and his advisers are preparing to inflict on Iran, in what can be called “Operation Economic Epic Fury.”

As an ebullient Trump told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo Sunday morning of the naval blockade: “It’s called all in, and all out. We think that numerous countries are going to be helping us with this also, but we’re putting on a complete blockade.

“We’re not going to let Iran make money on selling oil to people that they like, and not people that they don’t like or whatever it is. It’s going to be all or none,” he said. “I predict they come back and give us everything we want.”

Trump’s other masterstroke was sending the administration’s biggest peacenik, Vice President JD Vance, to lead talks with Iran in Islamabad, alongside special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, so he could see for himself how deluded the Iranians are about the cards they hold, and so the Iranians could see that there are no cracks in the administration’s........

© New York Post