Donald Trump has never revealed a great ability to think strategically. He can bully. He can brag. He can abuse. But, it has to be said that strategic thinking appears to have been beyond his pay grade.
He provided dramatic evidence in support of that contention yesterday. As the Financial Times reports:
Donald Trump said the US would launch a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following the failure of negotiators to reach a deal with Iranian officials in marathon talks in Pakistan over the weekend.
“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday morning.
The reality is that the Strait of Hormuz is already blocked. It is on the basis of its success in achieving that goal that Iran has secured the upper hand in its war with Israel and the USA.
The Strait was, of course, open before the war began. One of Trump's biggest demands of Iran in the peace talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, over the weekend was that the Strait be reopened. That was mildly ironic. The only reason it is shut is because of the action that he and Benjamin Netanyahu have taken.
Now, devoid of any other ideas, Trump is threatening to blockade the waterway that Iran says it will open again, so long as shipping pays a toll to it to assist funding of the reconstruction now required in its country, with the toll payable either in cryptocurrency or yuan, which is the currency of China.
I am, of course, aware that Trump said that the toll he is imposing is designed to block the passage of any ship that has paid a toll, but there are very good questions in international law about whether such action on his part is legal, just as there are questions as to whether the imposition of a toll in the first place is legal. But my point is that imposing a blockade, from a considerable distance (as will be necessary if US ships are to be safe from Iranian attack whilst trying to impose this blockade), on traffic through the Strait of Hormuz appears to indicate three things.
The first is desperation. The US would appear to be out of ideas when it comes to this war.
The second is a willingness to reinforce Iran's action. The Strait of Hormuz will definitely be shut now, contrary to the interests of the wider world, all of whom are already showing considerable frustration with the actions of the USA and Israel.
Third, there is a willingness on the part of the USA to shoot itself in the foot.
Trump has most definitely lost the plot when it comes to this war. What worries me is that this could lead to a further escalation in the violence, probably at the request and behest of Benjamin Netanyahu, who appears to now recognise no boundaries when it comes to such issues.
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Talk about sulking off and taking the ball home with you. I have no idea what this is supposed to achieve other than to look as if the U.S. is better at doing something harmful to the world economy than Iran. It seems to be all about who is perceived to have the power; the consequences of the action are secondary or even less. It’s almost juvenile, the U.S. cutting its nose off to spite its face. This will increase pressure to end the aggression – but how?
“Trump has most definitely lost the plot when it comes to this war” – yes, but it is much worse than that – he is losing the propaganda war. I post one link – there are loads of other vids all with music and expressed in a way that will resonate with many in the US military and back in the USA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXaiQWhe0uw&list=RDPXaiQWhe0uw&start_radio=1
If you are not keen on LEGO, then perhaps Telly Tubbies – this one is particulalry cruel: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zcZ7U-CabWM
They seem to be coming out by the hour & there was a van in Time Square playing various vids yesterday. Or this one: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4kRf4FDPA5E (Iran War – The Movie).
Trump is finished & there increasingly there is growing questioning (from right & left) as to who calls the shots in the USA, tRump or Israel/Net&Yahoo.
As for Iran, Iranian friend wants to see a change of gov via the ballot box.
Thanks Mike for bringing up the ‘Lego Movies’. As someone with family in Iran I can say that they have kept many of us sane over the past few weeks. There are more than one group producing these AI assisted movies and they keep getting taken down – for obvious reasons. But anyone on Twitter (X) for example can search for Iran Lego and find them. The original group is ‘xplosive media’ who are Iranians operating from Pakistan. Others are just as entertaining.
Another source of Iranian humour on social media have been the Iranian embassies all over the world trolling Trump and the US and Israel. The embassies of South Africa and Zimbabwe are very funny and have even bantered with each other. For those who are not on Twitter here’s an example from Ghana this morning:
Zafar: How many Iranian embassies one should follow. You follow one and the other surpasses it with better humour.
Iran in Ghana: You don’t follow Iranian embassies. THEY find you. One retweet and suddenly your whole timeline looks like an “Iranian embassies” group chat. Your barber is debating Hormuz. Your alley cat has radicalized opinions on maritime law. Monkeys in Delhi are stealing phones just to follow us before handing them back. A band of pigeons just dropped their debut single “Goodbye Imperialism.” Don’t resist Zafar. We didn’t choose this life either. But a certain President keeps tweeting and we simply cannot stop. 2:54 AM · Apr 13, 2026 from Accra, Ghana 10.5K Views
Hmmm – Mike, your YouTube link appears to have been taken down. That didn’t take long!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4kRf4FDPA5E (Iran War – The Movie).
here you go:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4kRf4FDPA5E
There is a (rare) good article on this in the Telegraph today. It says:
“The overwhelming number of ships to pay the toll so far are Chinese-linked ones. Some French, Japanese, Greek and Pakistani vessels have paid too. I’m sure Trump would be delighted to board French and Greek ships, given the anti-Europe vibe now.
But Japan, your key ally in the Indo-Pacific, who needs oil the most? Pakistan, the country that is brokering the negotiations? All of which pales into insignificance at the notion of boarding and seizing Chinese flagged or linked ships.”
Clearly Trump’s idea of blocking the Straight of Hormuz is idiotic and politically impractical.
Media reports about this blockade story seem to be focusing on tactical effectiveness, geopolitical issues and the price of oil. I can’t see any mention of the possible effects on the people of Iran. It’s ordinary people who generally suffer most when ports are blockaded. They can’t get the food and medicines they need, and prices go up. In general, we only seem to get news about ordinary people when there’s an atrocity, like the bombing of a school, that even our cynical media can’t ignore. So evil gets a clear run, more or less.
Agreed. But the suffeering will be much wider in this case
Apologies Richard for making two comments this morning. Thanks Cliff for acknowledging the suffering present and future of ordinary people as a result of Trump and Netanyahu’s madness. But, Trump is displaying a typical American lack of geographic knowledge when he threatens to block Iran’s sea ports. Has he not seen Iran’s land borders? Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Russia (Caspian Sea border), Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkey. The Chinese have built their Silk Road railway route deliberately to include Iran.
As for Iran being able to get food and medicines, the country has been under extreme sanctions for four decades and have learned to do things for themselves as far as possible. The other Gulf States will have a much harder time of it. And the ‘rest of the world’ too as Richard is saying loud and clear.
I think the blockade will have a significant impact on ordinary Iranians, if it happens and persists for a while. Land border trade won’t compensate very much. The real message for us all is that we need to join hands. The suffering must end.
‘Trump can’t think strategically’ – just the opposite in the Iran case. He now seems to want what was already in existence when he ripped up the nuclear inspection regime agreement in 2015. That was guaranteed by US UK France Germany Russia China and provided for regular inspection which safeguarded against development of a nuclear weapon. It’s no surprise that Iran doesn’t trust Trump, which makes it nigh on impossible for Trump to ‘negotiate’ or to ‘bomb’ his way back to what was there in 2015.<p>
But as far as his own career is concerned – he has managed to go a mighty long way despite his lack of ‘strategic’ thinking. It is depressing to think how an instinctive bully and criminal can get to the top – and and get massive popular support. It happened in the 1930’s – but ‘never again’ seems to have only lasted a generation.
2015?
Yes – I think that nuclear agreement – Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was signed in 2015. Took years to negotiate – Trump tore it up
I see
I thoughtb you were referring to when he tore it up
“Trump has most definitely lost the plot when it comes to this war.”
Trump never had the plot to begin with: ON ANYTHING!
The problem with Trump 2.0 is that there is no one around him to strap him in a a chair and read the Cliff Notes version of the plot to him and then explain it to him in two sentences or less what has been read to him.
Trump and his acolytes focusing on “strategy and oil prices” completely missing the point that “products” flowing from oil and gas will be running out very shortly. Think helium ( chip production and running eg MRI scanners), generic medicine, fertilisers, plastics.
Production of 20% of the world’s oil/gas by products come from the Gulf.
Iran survived that last time no oil exports was imposed. They will do so again.
The rest of the world may not.
Where is Trump going to enforce the no sail programme? Certainly not within 1000 miles of Iran, that’s too close to Iranian missiles etc. Good luck with stopping Chinese vessels.
The Chinese have drawn a pretty firm line, I can’t see them backing down:
BEIJING: In a stern warning that underscores the deepening geopolitical fault lines between the East and the West, Chinese Minister of Defence Admiral Dong Jun on Monday reaffirmed Beijing’s unwavering commitment to its strategic partnership with Tehran, asserting that China would continue to navigate the Strait of Hormuz despite escalating regional tensions.
“We have trade and energy agreements with Iran. We will respect and honour them and expect others to not meddle in our affairs,” Dong stated, adding significantly that “Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz and it is open for us.”
https://mmnews.tv/china-asserts-right-to-hormuz-passage-warns-us-against-meddling/#google_vignette
There is massive risk in this
There would likely be less risk if the EU and UK had the back bone to say the same thing China has said. Sadly, for the world, those back bones have long been eroded.
The president of the the United States has the gall to try to justify his blockade of the Strait of Hormuz by claiming he had to do it to stop Iran holding the world to ransom through “economic terrorism”. This from the man who sat in front of a crowd of Trump-worshippers – is it really any wonder he’s developed messianic delusions? – last year and announced he was placing random tariffs on every country in the world, including a rock in the Indian Ocean inhabited only by penguins, in an effort to make foreign manufacturers invest in the US economy. If that wasn’t “economic terrorism”, I don’t know what is. The hypocrisy is staggering, but sadly not surprising.