The US will reimpose its blockade on all Iranian ports at 4 p.m. ET Tuesday — sending Iran’s struggling economy back into a tailspin in retaliation for Tehran’s strikes on ships in the Strait of Hormuz and failure to progress with nuclear concessions.
Regional sources with whom The Post spoke on Tuesday described the US’ move to open the blockade for all transits except Iran as a the next step necessary to tighten the screws on a defiant Tehran, with one official saying targeting Iran’s economy does “much more” to move the needle than missile strikes.
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Under the blockade, only Iranian ships and Tehran’s customers will be unable to use the strait, while all other countries have fair use of the strait.
It’s unclear how much traffic will be able to pass through, as Iran regularly targeted ships in the Strait of Hormuz during the US’ first blockade on Iranian ports — which was lifted as part of the now-defunct US-Iran memorandum of understanding signed last month.
With an hour to go before the blockade is enacted, traffic was ticking along with about 22 commercial transits over the past 24 hours, according to maritime tracking data.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
