“In Trump’s view there are two ways to deal with Iran; one is military — a crippling strike on key targets; the other is economic strangulation,” Ohryzko said.
“After all the briefings and situation room meetings, it’s most likely he chose the second path. Trump says Iran is on the verge of collapse.”
Ohryzko acknowledged that Russia could in theory profit if Iran were prevented from selling its oil, but only if the Ukrainian military allows it. He pointed to recent strikes on Russian Black Sea oil infrastructure near Tuapse as examples of operations that could limit Russia’s ability to export oil and increase public discontent inside the country.
“If a port is bombed, you’re not going to carry oil buckets out to a tanker,” he said.
“So when people say Russia will earn billions more, that’s only if it is allowed to do so. If we don’t allow it, it won’t earn that money. Remember when Trump once said Ukraine had no cards? I think now we have a full deck — and all the trump cards.”