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The U.S. indicated it would maintain a naval blockade of Iranian ports in an effort to disrupt Tehran’s oil exports and pressure it to return to negotiations.

US President Donald Trump claimed on Tuesday that Iran was in a “state of collapse.” His treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, later said Washington’s “maximum pressure campaign” had caused Iran’s inflation to accelerate and that the country was running out of oil storage. It would soon have to start cutting production, Bessent said, News.Az reports, citing foreign media.

The Iranian rial has weakened significantly in the past two days, according to bonbast.com, a website that tracks the currency’s value on the parallel market, suggesting rising strain on the country’s economy.

The blockade lies at the heart of the impasse between the US and Iran, with the Islamic Republic insisting it won’t restart negotiations or reopen the Strait of Hormuz as long as the naval restrictions stay in place. Trump says he won’t halt the operation until Iran agrees on a peace deal to end a war that, while now in a ceasefire, began more than two months ago, causing chaos across the Middle East and energy prices to surge.

With the strait now effectively shut for two months and little sign of it opening soon, oil prices continue to rise. It’s unclear how much storage and time Iran has left before it would need to close down wells, which may damage them permanently. Analytics firm Kpler estimates it has another 12 to 22 days.

Trump has told his aides to prepare for an extended blockade and that it carries less of a risk for the US than resuming hostilities or walking away from the conflict without a deal that curbs Iran’s nuclear activities, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed American officials.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli