How the US Navy could blockade Iran’s ports and sweep mines from the Strait of Hormuz | CNN

Six weeks after the beginning of the war with Iran, President Donald Trump is giving the United States Navy its most difficult jobs of the conflict: blockading Iran’s ports and clearing the strategic Strait of Hormuz of any Iranian mines. The blockade order would apply to all Iranian ports, both inside and outside the strait from 10 a.m. ET Monday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said. Iran has had a chokehold on the strait, a critical passage for the global energy trade, since the war broke out. Trump indicated that mission would have an even wider scope, possibly well outside the Persian Gulf. “I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,” he said Sunday, referring to Tehran’s move to charge ships for safe passage. The point of the mission is to maximize pressure on Iran by strangling its cashflow from the energy trade. But solving the global energy crisis stemming from this war will take another tough job: clearing any sea mines Iran has laid. On Saturday, Trump said the Navy had begun minesweeping operations in the strait. CEN