Why Fully Reopening the Strait of Hormuz Remains a Challenge for the U.S.
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
U.S. President Donald Trump has spent months trying to pressure Iran into fully reopening the Strait of Hormuz, resorting to everything from airstrikes and naval blockades to negotiations and threats to destroy 'an entire civilization.' However, experts suggest that restoring tanker traffic in the vital Middle Eastern maritime corridor to pre-war levels will likely require a much larger fleet of U.S. warships, if not tens of thousands of American troops on Iranian soil. Despite intermittent fighting, Iran can still attack vessels in the narrow waterway of the Persian Gulf with drones and missiles hidden in a country one-third the size of the continental United States. 'Iran has been preparing for this kind of asymmetric conflict for decades,' said Jason H. Campbell, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute and former Pentagon official. 'I think they are starting to show why no other U.S. president since Reagan has chosen to engage at this level of conflict with Iran, because they have the capability to completely disrupt the Strait of Hormuz.' On Monday, Trump stated that the U.S. would reinstate its blockade of Iranian ports and charge other ships for safe passage through the strait. Iran has insisted that it controls the waterway, through which 20% of the world's oil typically flows, and both sides have exchanged gunfire over the past week in a series of skirmishes that threaten a return to full-scale war.
AI summary · Source: Telemundo McAllen (KTLM) →
