Trump's Strait of Hormuz blockade threat raises risks and leaves predicaments unchanged

Trump's Strait of Hormuz blockade threat raises risks and leaves predicaments unchanged30 minutes agoShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleAnthony ZurcherNorth America correspondentGetty ImagesAfter a diplomatic team led by Vice-President JD Vance tried, and failed, to reach a negotiated agreement to end the US war with Iran on Saturday, President Donald Trump had to decide his next move.That came on Sunday morning, in a series of Truth Social posts.The US will impose a naval blockade of Iran, he wrote. "No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas," he wrote.He also said that the US would continue clearing mines from the Strait of Hormuz in order to ensure a safe passage for allied shipping. The US military, he added, was "locked and loaded" and prepared to resume attacks against Iran at an "appropriate moment".He went on to say that while progress had been made in the 20-hour negotiations in Islamabad, Iran would not meet the US demand that it abandon its nuclear ambitions.While his posts didn't have the apocalyptic bluster of last week's threat to end Iranian civilisation, they pose a number of new challenges – and risks – for the American side.Live updates on Trump's blockade threatWill mine-clearing activities place American naval vessels at greater risk of Iranian attacks? How would the US determine who paid Iran a toll? Will the US use force on foreign-flagged ships that ignore the blockade? How will nations that depend on Iranian oil, like China, respond? Will the move, intended to choke off Iran's primary income stream, drive up the price of oil to even higher levels?There are no clear answers."I don't understand how blockading the strait is going to somehow push the Iranians into opening it," Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN on Sunday.Republican lawmaker Mike Turner of Ohio, a former chairman of t...