I'm John Bachelor. I welcome my colleague and friend Bill Rajo, Senior fellow for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies,

looking at the wars in the Middle East. We begin, of course, with the Iran conflict that theoretically is under a ceasefire,

and yet there are threats going back and forth that are alarming and do not look supportive of finding a solution.

The headline in the Financial Times tells a story that's very difficult to explain quickly.

Iran threatens to hit back against Middle East ports ahead of U.S. blockade.

U.S. blockade.

The last time we checked on the states of Hormuz,

it was generally considered closed to world traffic

because of the ability of Iran to fire missiles or drones

at anything traversing the very narrow passageway.

It does come down the whole coast of Iran,

and where it bends a little bit around UAE and Oman,

it is a very easy missile fire of any kind or drone launch of any kind

from the shores of Iran,

suggesting that it's strategically well

placed as a choke point. What is surprising is that the remarks by the president over the weekend

complicate the matter. Middle East war live. Iran threatens to hit back against Middle East

ports ahead of U.S.

blockade. Donald Trump tells U.S. Navy to interdick ships that pay Iran to pass through Strait of Hormuz.

And the explanation from the F.T. The U.S. is preparing to launch a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz from 10 a.m. Eastern time,

that's on Monday the 13th, underway, after Washington and Tehran failed to reach an agreement

during weekend talks in Islamabad. Bill, a very good day to you. We're going to blockade the blockade.

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