KT McFarland told Newsmax on Tuesday that the Trump administration's blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz is already proving decisive, calling the strategy 100%" effective in cutting off the regime's economic lifelines.
McFarland, deputy national security adviser in President Donald Trump's first term, argued on "Rob Schmitt Tonight" the move represents a shift from military action to what she described as "economic warfare," following earlier strikes that she said damaged Iran's military and defense infrastructure.
"One hundred percent. And here's why," McFarland said when asked about the blockade's effectiveness. "The first term, what we did was this maximum-pressure campaign. So, you negotiate at the same time you're putting the pressure on, you don't stop with the pressure."
She credited Trump with "flipping the script" on Tehran's expectations that closing the Strait of Hormuz would drive up global oil prices and force U.S. concessions.
"The Iranians thought, 'ha ha ha, they'll close the Strait of Hormuz,' and that will put such enormous political pressure on President Trump because of high gasoline prices ... that Trump will agree to anything," she said. "Well, that's not Donald Trump. They don't know Donald Trump."
Instead, McFarland said the blockade is squeezing Iran from several directions, halting imports and exports.
"Nothing's coming in, so they have crisis with their consumer economy … massive inflation," she said. "Nothing's going out, so they're not selling. They're not making any money from their oil."
She also pointed to a crucial vulnerability in Iran's oil infrastructure, warning that the inability to load tankers could quickly damage production capacity.
"If [oil] doesn't get put on the tankers, there's a backup in that pipeline," McFarland said. "Within about 13 days ... their wells start collapsing, basically."
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, is one of the world's most vital oil transit routes, historically handling a significant share of global crude shipments. Although the U.S. has restricted Iranian shipping, other international vessels are still being allowed to pass.
McFarland said the financial impact could be immediate and severe.
"They've got maybe a week, two weeks, it's a half-billion dollars a day. They can't survive like that," she said.
She added that internal instability might already be mounting within Iran's leadership, particularly among the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, suggesting communication breakdowns and "chaos and uncertainty" at top levels of the regime.
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