Originally posted by: Boilerman
I had to roll my eyes reading an argument that Iran is finding ways around Trump's blockade. The writer pointed out that a bunch of shadow ships with Iranian crude are off the coast of Malaysia, proving Trump's blockade is a failure. Since I like to confirm such arguments to be right or wrong, I confirm that these ships are 4000 miles from Iran. They travel 250 miles per day. That's 16 days of travel time to their current position. Trump's blockade apparently wasn't working before it was established, and that proves failure. That's today's Liberal logic.
It isn't working, because the United States has no authority to intercept ships flagged by other nations. If a German or Chinese or Australian tanker arrives at an Iranian port and wishes to upload cargo, what are we going to do--sink it? That would be an act of war.
Furthermore, we are signatory to a treaty that explicitly says that we and any other signing nation will NOT do what we're doing. So Trump can be taken to court if he blocks any traffic in or out of Iran, if the ships in question are flagged in one of the signatory nations. And most of them are.
Trump, stupid as he is, knows this. So this "blockade" is a sham and a bluff, like everything he does. The art of the stupid fucking deal.