Over the past seven days, Donald Trump has adopted two contradictory positions on the Strait of Hormuz. A week ago, he wrote that a 'whole civilization' would 'die' if Iran didn't make certain concessions'among them, allowing ships to resume their normal courses in and out of the Persian Gulf. This weekend, though, after marathon peace talks between the United States and Iran ended without an agreement, Trump announced a blockade of Iranian ports, essentially doubling down on restrictions in the waterway. Why blockade the blockaders' The tactic is all but guaranteed to aggravate the ongoing energy crisis, which has been a pain point for Trump since the start of the war. But it also inflicts a new level of punishment on Iran: a trade-off that, for the president, appears to be worth making. Since late February, Iran has been threatening to attack most ships passing through the strait, and the resulting drop-off in traffic has created the worst threat to global energy security in...
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