Iran expert says US is trying to get leverage with blockade

In an interview with BBC Radio 4 today, Abas Aslani, a senior fellow at the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran, was asked how Iran sees the US blockade. Aslani says Iran sees the US blockade as its attempt to "create leverage in order to get more compromises from Tehran at the negotiating table". Aslani added that the US is trying to adopt a similar tactic to one it used in Venezuela, but what makes Iran's strategy different is that if "Iranian vessels or tankers a