The American military’s naval blockade of Iran took effect Monday evening, after the deadline set by US President Donald Trump passed at 5 p.m. Israel time.

“We can’t let a country blackmail or extort the world, because that’s what they’re doing,” Trump said of Iran, speaking to reporters outside the Oval Office. He also said “the right people” in the country had reached out to say that they wanted a deal.

He said other countries would help the US in enforcing the blockade, but declined to immediately give specifics, saying details would probably be shared on Tuesday.

The president repeated his argument that safeguarding the strait is of greater concern to other parts of the globe than it is to the United States.

“We don’t use this strait,” Trump said. “We have our own oil and gas, much more than we need.”

“Many ships are heading to our country right now as we speak to load up with the best,” he added, referring to American oil. “They’re coming to our country right now.”

The effective closure of the strait does impact global oil prices, however, which has led to surging gas prices for American motorists and rising inflation on other goods.

Later, asked whether he expected oil tankers in general would be able to transit the strait, Trump said: “Yeah, I think they’re going to be doing very well there, and I think they’re doing very well here.”

Asked what the sticking point was in negotiations with Iran in Islamabad over the weekend that failed to end hostilities, Trump said: “It’s over the fact that they will never have a nuclear weapon.”

“Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And we agreed to a lot of things, but they didn’t agree to that. And I think they will agree to it. I’m almost sure of it. In fact, I am sure of it. If they don’t agree, there’s no deal. There’ll never be a deal,” he said.

“And we’re going to get the dust back,” Trump vowed, referring to the 60 percent enriched uranium........

© The Times of Israel