{"id":62441,"date":"2026-05-02T07:25:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T11:25:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/?p=62441"},"modified":"2026-05-02T07:26:05","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T11:26:05","slug":"trumps-own-words-prove-that-iran-and-u-s-are-in-a-state-of-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/?p=62441","title":{"rendered":"

Trump’s own words prove that Iran and U.S. are in a state of war<\/h1>"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Alexander Ward, Laurence Norman and Summer Said<\/p>\n

President\u00a0Trump<\/a>\u00a0has instructed aides to prepare for an extended blockade of Iran, U.S. officials said, targeting the regime\u2019s coffers in a high-risk bid to compel a nuclear capitulation Tehran has long refused.<\/p>\n

In recent meetings, including a Monday discussion in the Situation Room, Trump opted to continue\u00a0squeezing Iran\u2019s economy<\/a>\u00a0and oil exports by preventing shipping to and from its ports. He assessed that his other options\u2014resume bombing or walk away from the conflict\u2014carried more risk than maintaining the blockade, officials said.<\/p>\n

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Yet continuing\u00a0the blockade<\/a>\u00a0also prolongs a conflict that has driven up gas prices, hurt Trump\u2019s poll numbers and further darkened Republicans\u2019 prospects in the\u00a0midterm elections<\/a>. It has also caused the\u00a0lowest number of transits<\/a>\u00a0through the Strait of Hormuz since the war began.<\/p>\n

Since ending the major bombing campaign in an April 7 cease-fire, Trump has repeatedly walked back from escalating the conflict, opening space for diplomacy after earlier threatening to destroy the entirety of Iranian civilization. But he still wants to tighten the grip on the regime until it caves to his key demand: dismantling all of Iran\u2019s nuclear work. On Monday, Trump told aides that Iran\u2019s three-step offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and save nuclear talks for the final phase proved Tehran\u00a0wasn\u2019t negotiating in good faith<\/a>, The Wall Street Journal reported.<\/p>\n

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\"Secretary<\/picture><\/figure>\n
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaking to reporters last week at the Pentagon.<\/span>\u00a0Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n

For now, Trump is comfortable with an indefinite blockade, which he wrote Tuesday on Truth Social is pushing Iran toward a \u201cState of Collapse.\u201d A senior U.S. official said the blockade is demonstrably crushing Iran\u2019s economy\u2014it is straining to store its\u00a0unsold oil<\/a>\u2014and sparked fresh outreach by the regime to Washington.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s decision represents a new phase of sorts of the war and highlights the fact that the president, who always seeks a quick and salable victory, is devoid of a silver bullet.<\/p>\n

Unilaterally stopping the fight offers a quick exit to the conflict and relief to the U.S. and global economies. But\u00a0Iran\u2019s proposal<\/a>\u00a0last weekend would have allowed Tehran to set the terms of that off-ramp.<\/p>\n

Restarting hostilities, meanwhile, would further weaken a battered Iran, but it would likely react by wreaking more havoc on Gulf energy infrastructure, bolstering the costs of the war. The blockade shrinks the Islamic Republic\u2019s funds but commits U.S. forces to a longer deployment in the Middle East\u2014with no guarantee the regime capitulates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIran is calculating that its ability to withstand and circumvent the blockade outstrips the U.S. interest in preventing a wider energy crisis and potentially a global recession,\u201d said\u00a0Suzanne Maloney, an Iran expert and vice president of the Brookings Institution\u2019s foreign policy program. \u201cA regime that slaughtered its own citizens to silence protests in January is fully prepared to impose economic hardships on them now.\u201d<\/p>\n

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said the U.S. has met Operation Epic Fury\u2019s military objectives and that \u201cthanks to the successful blockade of Iranian ports, the United States has maximum leverage over the regime\u201d during negotiations to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. \u201cThe president will only accept a deal that protects the national security of our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lack of a clear, decisive pathway has some U.S. officials saying the eight-week conflict will likely end with neither a nuclear deal nor a resumption of the war, a sentiment first reported by Axios.<\/p>\n

Trump is receiving conflicting advice about his next moves. Some officials and outside allies such as Sen.\u00a0Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, are openly urging the White House to keep the pressure on Tehran. Others, including business leaders close to the president, worry that a shuttered Strait of Hormuz or more war would only hurt the economy, a potential political death knell heading into the November midterm elections.<\/p>\n

That counsel rang in Trump\u2019s ears Monday as he weighed Iran\u2019s three-pronged proposal, officials said, which while imperfect, provided a potential de-escalation.<\/p>\n

But the president and his national-security team agreed it would have stripped Washington of some of its leverage to extract nuclear concessions from Iran. The White House has consistently said any framework deal for a lasting peace must address Iran\u2019s nuclear program, including putting timelines on restrictions of its work.<\/p>\n

Officials say Trump isn\u2019t currently willing to drop his demand that Iran, at a minimum, vows to suspend its nuclear enrichment for 20 years and accepts restrictions after that point.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not surprised that he hasn\u2019t taken the deal because it doesn\u2019t address the nuclear issue at all,\u201d said Eric Brewer, a former senior analyst for Iran in the U.S. intelligence community. \u201cWhy would you accept the Iranian deal while you are still waiting to see if you can cause some serious economic problems to Iran through this bet on the blockade?\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite expectations in the White House that U.S.-Iran talks would resume in Pakistan last weekend, the negotiations are stalled.<\/p>\n

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\"U.S.<\/picture><\/figure>\n
U.S. forces on patrol in the Arabian Sea earlier this month.<\/span>\u00a0U.S. Navy<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n

On Monday, Iran told mediators it would need a few days to consult with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei before presenting a modified proposal that could advance the peace talks with the U.S., people familiar with the matter said.<\/p>\n

Regional mediators, however, remain skeptical that Iran\u2019s updated offer would catalyze a breakthrough. Iranian officials continue to say that Washington must drop what they deem maximalist demands while maintaining its own blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth sides seem to believe that they have calculated this right and that time is on their side,\u201d said Nico Lange, director of Germany\u2019s Institute for Risk Analysis and International Security and a former chief of staff at the German defense ministry.<\/p>\n

Trump administration officials realize Tehran could try to disrupt efforts to maintain the current no-deal, no-war situation over a long period.<\/p>\n

As the blockade bites, Iran might seek to force Washington into choosing between escalating the conflict or backing down and cutting a deal. Tehran could resume its attacks on regional energy production or target U.S. naval assets enforcing the blockade. Despite the destruction of its conventional navy, Iran can still spark flare-ups with U.S. forces.<\/p>\n

Secretary of State\u00a0Marco Rubio\u00a0identified another complication in a Fox News interview that aired Monday: the internal battle for control in Iran that complicates any diplomatic effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hard-liners, with an apocalyptic vision of the future, have the ultimate power in that country,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cOne of the impediments here is that our negotiators aren\u2019t just negotiating with Iranians. Those Iranians then have to negotiate with other Iranians in order to figure out what they can agree to, what they can offer, what they\u2019re willing to do, even who they\u2019re willing to meet with.\u201d<\/p>\n

____
\nhttps:\/\/www.wsj.com\/world\/middle-east\/trump-tells-aides-to-prepare-for-extended-blockade-of-iran-da3be7a4<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=62441"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62444,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62441\/revisions\/62444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=62441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=62441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=62441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}