President Donald Trump declared a hardline new policy toward Iran Sunday, announcing that the United States will impose an “all or none” complete blockade on Iranian oil exports.
In his strongest remarks yet on the issue, Trump made it clear there will be no partial deals or exceptions:
“It’s going to be all or none. And that’s the way it is. You saw what we did with Venezuela. It’ll be something very similar to that, but at a higher level.”
He continued:
“It’s called ‘all in and all out.’ There’ll be a time when we’ll have them all come in and all come out, but it won’t be a percentage. It won’t be a friend of yours, like a country that’s your ally or a country that’s your friend is all or nothing.”
Trump confirmed the U.S. is already moving military assets into position:
“We’re just bringing the ships up. We got a lot of ships that we’re bringing them up. We think that numerous countries are going to be helping us with this also, but we’re putting on a complete blockade.”
He added:
“We’re not going to let Iran make money on selling oil to people that they like and not people that they don’t like or whatever it is.”
Trump also revealed that the U.S. and Iran had come very close to a broader agreement during recent talks, saying the two sides were “ready to agree on 90%” but ultimately failed because Iran refused to give up its nuclear weapons ambitions.
The announcement comes amid the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz and just after the collapse of U.S.-Iran talks in Islamabad.
