A former Pentagon official said the goal of the U.S. blockade is to get the Iranians to back down and restore freedom of navigation to the strait.

The US plans to block ‘all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports’ starting on Monday.

The president said the U.S. was ready to "finish up" Iran at the “appropriate moment," stressing that Tehran's nuclear ambitions were at the core of the failure to end the war.