By blocking the Strait of Hormuz, Trump is playing with fire and deepening the global energy crisis: Malek Dudakov

Malek Dudakov, a political analyst specializing in American affairs, shared his commentary with Alpha News on US President Donald Trump’s decision to block shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

“As we can see, the Donald Trump administration is at this point effectively admitting its inability to unblock the Strait of Hormuz and restore shipping through one of the main maritime arteries of global trade. In response, they have decided to make a flanking move and block shipping from the other side, not from the Iranian side, but from the Indian Ocean side. The consequences of this decision will be long-term, but in the near term, I think the Trump administration is counting on this strengthening its negotiating position within the current back-channel contacts with the Iranian side. They will accordingly attempt to pressure Iran, strike at Iranian oil exports to other countries, and thereby push it toward a deal that would better serve US interests than the terms Iran is currently putting forward,” Dudakov said.

In the expert’s view, Trump’s actions are deepening the energy crisis worldwide, including within the United States itself.

“Trump is playing with fire. We can see that fuel prices have not dropped significantly over these ten days of ceasefire, Trump’s approval ratings are falling, and the majority of Americans are dissatisfied with his Iran adventure and favor a halt to hostilities and negotiations on realistic terms. Public opinion is clearly not on Trump’s side. The longer this energy crisis persists, the lower his ratings will fall, and that creates serious risks for him. Furthermore, the US military presence is also vulnerable. The destroyers the US is currently using to blockade the Strait of Hormuz could come under fire from Iranian anti-ship missiles, drones, or unmanned boats at any moment. In that case, the consequences for the Pentagon would be extremely serious, even the loss of a single Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, worth around three billion dollars, would deal a severe reputational blow to the US military machine. With that in mind, I think Trump will nevertheless try not to prolong the blockade and will attempt to secure some movement in the negotiating process now, then move toward de-escalation. In other words, for him this is an attempt to execute an exit strategy, what Americans often call ‘escalation for the sake of de-escalation.’ But I am not confident that Trump will manage this at the current moment. Which raises the question: what happens if Trump’s current plan, like the previous ones, fails,” Dudakov concluded.