Dave Davies

I'm wondering if you have a sense of how effective this might be in restoring commercial shipping, what the challenges are.

Right, right.

It's interesting also that throughout the course of the war, if I understand this correctly, the United States has permitted Iran to export its own oil in order to soften the impact on world oil prices, right?

A naval blockade is technically an act of war, right?

Trevor Burrus And any administration.

President Trump had said at one point he expected other nations to join with the United States in the naval blockade.

They have not reacted with enthusiasm, right?

And France was talking about putting together some kind of coalition to, I don't know, take some initiative of their own in the Strait, I think.

We need to take another break here.

Let me reintroduce you.

We are speaking with Aaron David Miller.

He spent 25 years in the U.S.

State Department.

He's now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

We'll continue our conversation after this break.

I'm Dave Davies, and this is Fresh Air.

We're not going to see commercial shipping in the strait until shippers and insurers are convinced that it's safe to navigate and these expensive ships and whatever they're carrying are safe.

It seems the Iranians have dropped a lot of mines there.

Trump says the U.S.

will be trying to clear them.