Trump Relaunches the Relentless Economic War Against the Mullahs' Regime

This is the first direct consequence of the failure of the Islamabad negotiations last weekend between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. On Monday, at 5 p.m. (Beirut time), the naval forces of the American army implemented a total blockade of all Iranian ports and the Strait of Hormuz.

Several warships have been deployed to enforce this blockade, which applies to all ships expected to use Iranian ports, whether departing or arriving. Only ships carrying humanitarian aid will be allowed to dock in ports, but after being thoroughly searched. As for vessels not involved in maritime traffic with Iran, they will be able to cross the Strait of Hormuz unhindered.

This maritime siege holds fundamental strategic importance on two levels. If rigorously applied, it will largely disrupt the aid in arms and ammunition that the mullahs' regime provides to its proxies in Lebanon and Yemen, among others.

The warning from the Iranian president

But more importantly, the blockade will undoubtedly deal a particularly harsh (fatal?) (new) blow to the Iranian economy, already severely shaken by the 'maximum sanctions' policy imposed by President Trump. The massive aerial bombardments that marked military operations since February 28 have indeed destroyed the petrochemical and steel industries of the Islamic Republic, which until now had relied on its oil exports, primarily benefiting China.

By imposing this maritime blockade, President Trump practically deprives the Iranian regime of its last oil revenues, without having to launch a ground offensive to take control, for example, of the strategic (heavily fortified) Kharg Island, through which 90 percent of Iranian oil exports pass. By paralyzing all economic activity on this island using the 'soft method,' without resorting to military force, President Trump is concretely working to dangerously strangle the Iranian economy in the short term. According to various information sources in Iran, the Iranian president had moreover warned the Revolutionary Guards against a risk of collapse of the Iranian economy within three weeks, at most, if no way out of the crisis is found in the short term.

The siege of Bint Jbeil

On the Lebanese front, the Israeli army affirmed on Monday afternoon that it had completed its siege of the strategic city of Bint Jbeil, where several dozen Hezbollah militants are entrenched. Simultaneously, the pro-Iranian party reported, in the late afternoon, 'close combat' in Bint Jbeil with IDF units, implicitly indicating that Israeli forces had made breakthroughs in certain sectors of the locality. In fact, the Hebrew state specified at the end of the day that the assault on the city had begun.

This escalation comes on the eve of the launch, on Tuesday, April 14, of direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel in Washington, at the office of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with the participation of the ambassadors of Lebanon and Israel in the federal capital.

Joseph Aoun and Joe Raggi remind…

The true scope of this diplomatic meeting, which should kick off a series of working sessions between the two countries, was highlighted on Saturday by the head of Lebanese diplomacy, Joe Raggi, who emphasized, as a reminder (to anyone willing to listen…), that the direct negotiation between Lebanon and Israel effectively consecrates the dissociation between the Lebanese issue and the Iranian aspect of the current conflict – a dissociation that evidently holds high strategic and symbolic importance for Lebanon.

President Joseph Aoun insisted on recalling in this context that 'negotiations with Israel are the sole responsibility of the Lebanese state, and no other party, because this is a sovereign matter that concerns only Lebanon.' And the head of state noted that the Lebanese authorities have adopted 'a series of security measures to prevent arms smuggling or the illegal entry of funds into the country.'

In any event, on the ground, the Israeli army reportedly received instructions to consolidate and develop its advances in the South, particularly in Bint Jbeil, before Tuesday's bilateral meeting, given that Beirut could insistently demand, as Mr. Raggi indicated on Monday, the entry into force of a ceasefire – such an achievement, according to several observers, could allow the Lebanese government to legitimize and consolidate direct dialogue with Tel Aviv.

Naïm Kassem returned…

In this context, it should be noted that after a long eclipse from the audiovisual media scene, Hezbollah Secretary-General, Sheikh Naïm Kassem, reappeared yesterday evening to stigmatize, in a televised speech, those who criticize Hezbollah for having dragged the country into a new war (!). He implicitly acknowledged in this regard that his pro-Iranian party used Lebanon to serve exclusively foreign interests, stating that 'the war in Lebanon aims to reduce pressure on other fronts' (!). And he called 'traitors' all those who oppose the war triggered by the Iranian party.

Sheikh Kassem obviously condemned the direct negotiations between Lebanon and Israel, asking the state to cancel these bilateral talks. Addressing President Joseph Aoun, he launched: 'Let's build Lebanon together'! However, he did not specify how such a joint recovery undertaking could be possible when the pro-Iranian party perceives the Lebanese entity as a mere instrument of maneuver in the hands of a regional power with largely destabilizing and belligerent hegemonic aims.