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A growing camp of hard-liners believe Iran has to take the military initiative and start a shooting war again to send oil prices soaring higher and increase the pressure on Trump. They argue that the blockade goes beyond the sanctions Iran has faced down in the past and amounts to an act of war that must have a military response.

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On Thursday, Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued a new threat to the U.S. “Foreigners who commit evil belong in the depths of water,” he said in a written statement read by a presenter on state television. Khamenei hasn’t been seen in public since he succeeded his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed on Feb. 28 in an Israeli strike.

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Iranian officials said Tehran could use previously unused weapons to attack U.S. warships, from submarines to mine-carrying dolphins. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened to step up escalation by cutting phone cables in the Strait of Hormuz, which would disrupt internet traffic globally.

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