With big neon letters that read:
TRUMP WAS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!
Not really, no.
You are also assuming that they are “drug speed boats”, which we have no reason to believe. And we’ve killed at least 130 people in the process, what’s a few more? Trump sure isn’t going to care. Given his lack of concern over bombing a school, I wouldn’t expect him to care if the ship blown up was a cruise ship carrying a few thousand tourists.
The environmental damage of taking out a tanker in the strait would be staggering.
That’s another thing Trump obviously doesn’t care about.
The Handelsblatt (German link) reports:
According to shipping data, a Chinese tanker subject to US sanctions has crossed the Strait of Hormuz despite a US blockade. According to data from providers LSEG, MarineTraffic and Kpler, it is the first vessel to have successfully transited from the Persian Gulf since the US blockade began on Monday.
The medium-sized tanker “Rich Starry” is reported to have around 250,000 barrels of methanol on board, which it loaded at the port of Hamrija in the United Arab Emirates. The ship and its owner, Shanghai Xuanrun Shipping, have been placed on a US sanctions list for doing business with Iran.
Another tanker subject to US sanctions is also currently passing through the strait. The “Murlikishan” flies the Madagascan flag and has been on a US sanctions list since the end of 2025. According to data from Kpler, the empty tanker is due to load heating oil in Iraq. The vessel has previously transported Russian and Iranian oil. The US intends to block all shipping traffic to and from Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz and also to deny passage to vessels that pay the transit fees demanded by Iran to Tehran.
Setting up a game of geopolitical bluff where a Chinese flagged, China destined, Karg Island loaded and Iranian toll paid vessel enters international waters on it’s outward voyage and doesn’t heed USN demands to stop.
A fully loaded Ultra Large Crude Carrier (ULCC), carrying around 3mill barrels of crude requires 5 to 9 kilometers (3 to 5.5 miles) to come to a complete stop from its service speed of about 16 knots, presumably if they are trying to stop. Captains of these leviathans often idle engines and reduce speed significantly 25km (15 miles) before entering a port.
Is the USN going to provoke an international incident by firing on, boarding, commandeering, even sinking and unleasing an environment catastrophe with an oil spill 2/3rd the size of DeepWater Horizon in international waters on a such a ULCC on an assigned bearing?
I envision a rather comic sight of a US carrier group scattering to make way for a supertanker travelling on a constant bearing @ 15 knots.
Quite the dilemma, since if they don’t Trump will likely have them punished, but if they do he’ll still go after them over the resulting international outcry.
Many Republican lawmakers and strategists told NBC News they worry the party has little to run on. “Right now, the voters don’t see a message or a strategy,” a Trump pollster said.
Hasn’t the message & strategy been on display (with flashing neon) for some time now?
There was that Project 2025 manifesto released in 2023.
They were talking about the non-100% committed MAGA vote, i.e. the old school Republicans and the Indy voters. That message doesnt work for them.
These people haven’t watched a current affair program in the past several months?
These people aren’t saying “Go you good thing. Bugger, isn’t gas expensive?”
In Canada, our MAGA Maples are busy blaming Carney for our high gas prices. “It’s all the taxes” they bleat, even as Carney removes the federal excise tax on gasoline.
Nothing can penetrate the thick skulls.
With the blockade, it’s quickly looking like there are no outs here.
If it were only America and Iran in this war, then we could just give Iran everything they want (including enrichment and reparations), on the single proviso that the strait is fully open again. As long as gas prices come down, MAGA gaslighting and a compliant media can sell everything else as a victory. The blockade worked!
But Israel would never accept that. So that door is closed too.
Hey, no problem! Trump’s gonna get US manufacturing onto a war footing!
They should start with food, that seems to be a problem right now:
I don’t see that being all that successful. Compared with today, a WWII tank, bomb, or other weapon was bloody simple. Producing one of today’s missiles is not a simple thing. Probably the best way to increase production is to give the companies that already make them some money to add another production line. Even that would probably take at least half a year to get going.
Oh, yes, that’s the objective reality of the situation, of course, which means our Mad King is utterly oblivious to the facts. No doubt the auto execs humored him while extracting as much financial gain as they could.
Speaking to specifics - my wife is a Senior Engineer at a microchip firm that produces various boutique level chips including some with military applications that have recipes that cannot be altered. One of the common substrates in many chips is Tungsten (note, this is a SINGLE element in production, you can guess how many others are similar).
557% increase in cost. Now, I’m sticking to general terms, but those costs are NOT going to absorbed by the company, especially after getting burned in the boom/bust cycle for chips during and after Covid. NO ONE is going to be eager to start up new lines (or even put mothballed lines back into active use) without a major, upfront infusion of cash, unlike the CHIPS act that worked on a partial reimbursement basis. And that leaves out the cost of hiring new staff, getting them trained as operators, etc. etc. etc.
Exactly as @dtilque put it, this is not technology that can be run off any general tool line. And the time to have started the lead up to allow increased production at all levels was years ago, certainly not after initiating a conflict. Automakers are in no way equipped to handle (per @EddyTeddyFreddy’s cite)
The talks come as the military seeks to increase production of munitions and tactical hardware, including missiles and counter-drone technology, the report said.
I suspect that the whole article reflects the Trump administrations absolute lack of knowledge and experience while the auto makers trying to politely explain to them that they’re out of their minds.
Iran has been emboldened. This is something that the world will surely not accept.
Or, thanks to Trump we’re simply looking at the end of the era where free passage across the seas was an accepted principle.