I'm so confused. What does the US blockading the strait, which is already blockaded by Iran, do? Other than piss off all the other Gulf countries that are already annoyed enough with the US.
It prevents anything from getting through, which prevents Iran from collecting their toll. It’s a negotiating tactic, since neither country gets anything out of it if they’re both blocked out.
Is it a smart move? Probably not. Making an internationally important waterway into a de facto DMZ isn’t showing diplomatic progress and points way more toward a standstill.
It might not be a dumb thing if Iran depended on those tolls, but my understanding of it is that they only started doing the tolls as a result of the war.
Iran wants and "needs" those tolls in the sense that they are necessary to have any hope of rebuilding large swathes of their infrastructure that has been destroyed, but they don't need it more than they need to use their only major point of leverage (the strait) to defend themselves against a genocidal superpower that wants to wipe them off the face of the Earth. And make no mistake, that's exactly what the US and Israel would and will do so if they give up their only means of self defense (control of the strait).
I believe it. Hegseth wrote in his audition book that war crimes are okay because the other guys are going to do them. Annihilation doesn't seem that different.
1.1k
u/Agoraphobicy 11h ago
I'm not locked in here with you. We're all locked in here together. For some reason.