President Trump may have reached the limits of what he can achieve by bombing targets in Iran'now he's trying to use economic pressure to bring Tehran back to the negotiating table. After a six-week pummeling by U.S. and Israeli forces failed to force Iran to capitulate, and a marathon weekend negotiating session ended without a deal, the United States announced that it would be imposing a naval blockade on Iran. The latest strategy illustrates just how far the war has shifted from Trump's original'albeit confusing'objectives. The principal American interest today is to walk into the next round of talks with a clear advantage, by making Iran's economic life as difficult as possible. That is, to reach a peace deal during the already declared cease-fire, the U.S. believes that it needs to wage a new kind of war, this time by targeting Iran's economy'which depends heavily on energy exports through the Strait of Hormuz. The blockade is 'the least bad option' after the collapse of the...
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