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Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday that President Trump made the “right move” in resuming the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports.
“I agree with the president, I think it’s the right move to reinstate the blockade,” Esper, who ran the Pentagon during Trump’s first term, said on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.”
Earlier Monday, Trump said American forces “are reinstating… THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE, so named because it is only stopping Iran’s ships or customers from entering or leaving.”
The president wrote on Truth Social, “All other countries will have fair and open use of the Strait. The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as ‘THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT.’”
Trump also said his administration will impose a 20 percent shipping toll on vessels passing through the key waterway, as the U.S. and Iran have exchanged strikes over the last week in the wake of the latter’s forces attacking a trio of commercial vessels in the key waterway.
U.S. Central Command (Centcom) said it will resume “blockading maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports” on Tuesday at 4 p.m. EST.
American forces initially blockaded vessels attempting to travel to or from Iranian ports and coastal areas from April 13 to June 18, with Centcom noting Monday it “redirected” 140-plus compliant ships, disabled nine non-compliant ships and permitted more than 50 humanitarian vessels to pass through during that period.
Amid the renewed hostilities with Iran, Trump informed Congress on Friday the U.S. has resumed military action against the Islamic Republic, effective July 7. That gives the Pentagon an additional 60 days from the renewal of strikes to deploy U.S. forces against Iran without congressional approval.
As for how to finally end the conflict, Esper said the administration must carry out an “economic strangling” of Iran. In conjunction with military action against Tehran, the Treasury Department has imposed a litany of sanctions on the Iranian regime and companies that facilitate its oil trade.
Esper also said he hopes Trump will abandon the memorandum of understanding (MOU) he signed last month with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, citing the agreement’s sparse details regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
“I’d like to see the administration explicitly walk away from the MOU,” he told Burnett. “It was not a good MOU. Of the 14 points, only one mentioned the nuclear side of this angle, and even that pushed the issues off until much, much later.
“So, I’d like to see them walk away from this MOU and put the pressure back on the Iranians.”
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