New Delhi, April 13 -- US Naval Forces will enforce a naval blockade around Iran at 7.30 pm IST (10am ET) in a clear escalation of Iran war after the Islamabad ceasefire talks failure. In this, US President Donald Trump is trying to turn the geopolitical crisis into a commercial opportunity- urging oil-hungry nations, and China in particular, to fill their tankers with American crude instead.

The White House is pairing military pressure on Tehran with an aggressive energy sales campaign. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed to normal shipping traffic, Trump has seized on the disruption to position the US as the world's indispensable energy supplier, a role, he argues, the country's record production levels make it uniquely qualif...