Time to win the Battle of Hormuz — and enforce freedom of navigation
President Donald Trump has rightly declared the Iran “cease-fire” to be dead and even more rightly made getting the Strait of Hormuz permanently opened his top priority.
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All his minions should get the message: Win the Battle of Hormuz.
Use all the force it takes; anything diplomacy can do (and we don’t see much) is just an added plus.
Tehran’s proved its promises mean nothing: No sooner had the prez threatened serious consequences if Iran failed to declare the Strait of Hormuz open than it defiantly attacked a commercial ship and declared it closed.
“They agreed to a deal yesterday,” Trump reported Sunday. “No nuclear, no this, no that . . . And then within an hour, they launched a drone at a ship.”
But let’s be clear here: The goal is to enforce the right to free navigation of international waters.
That is, safe passage for commercial ships and no tolls by anyone, including the United States.
Tehran is claiming it owns the Strait. Iran’s leaders (i.e., the ones controlling the missiles and drones that threaten shipping) see control of the waterway, with tolls, as their way to wring victory from the jaws of defeat.
Yet the prime purpose of the US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding was to get the Strait open while US negotiators finalized Iran’s supposed concessions — above all, a verifiable end to its pursuit of nukes.
Now that the regime’s shown it has no intention of ever opening the Strait (nor making genuine nuke concessions), it’s abundantly clear the MoU (and any future agreement) was a sucker’s game.
Meanwhile, securing free passage of that waterway is a must: The world depends on the Strait for more than 20% of its oil; its closure strangles global economic growth and plagues US consumers even if our economy still grows.
More important is the principle: No power grabs allowed over any international waterway.
Freedom of navigation has served the world well for centuries, and serves the Free World far better than any other arrangement.
The US blockade of Iran’s ports (which the prez resumed on Monday) is a separate matter — a longtime feature of warfare; that followed restoration of Iranian sanctions and renewed airstrikes.
It’s great that he declared the “U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as ‘THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT’ .”
But his vow that Washington will “be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped,” to cover the costs to secure the Strait would make our nation a capo instead of a cop.
Yes, other nations should share the burden, but, again: Freedom of navigation means no tolls, period.
Otherwise, regional powers will move on every global chokepoint — and the civilized world will lose the most.
Fine: Cushioned from most of the pain of US airstrikes, Tehran’s leaders have shown they’re not truly ready to give up.
So the United States must step up attacks — end the limited “tit for tat” strikes; hit whatever regime targets are needed to pull Tehran’s fangs.
Maybe take Kharg Island . . . and why not start seizing Iranian tankers?
If Iran truly wants a deal, it needs to agree to a permanently open Strait before any other talks proceed.
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Tehran’s words are meaningless until its actions prove it’s admitting defeat.
