Also agriculture products like urea are driving up prices for farmers. One fifth of oil and LNG shipments worldwide.
A concern I have, not sure if it is well-founded, is if the US starts to escort transport ships, then do we open ourselves up to more US casualties?
Of course. And loss of ships too. And environmental damage.
Surely, but only marginally IMHO, Iran would not attack the well defended warships, it will attack the tankers and hope the warships defenses do not stop the attack.
ETA: Though, now that I think of it, the morale and propaganda value of successful attack against a warship may be enough to justify at least trying to damage one.
Also, the more effort they put into defending themselves, the less effort the naval ships can put into defending any civilian targets.
Ground forces on the move.
Also, all six crewman on the crashed tanker confirmed dead.
I’m sure we will be greeted like liberating heros /s
2200 marines, looks like to few by far to held the coastal area of the Straits, perhaps they plan on landing close to launch sites, destroying them and then going back to the ship? A dubious strategy.
Or is just a flex?
Unless more troops follow this doesn’t make much sense.
They’re probably planning to hold one of the islands in the Strait.
That’s the most plausible speculation that I have read.
They might be looking at grabbing Kharg Island. Which, according to reports, has not been bombed. It has the terminal for virtually all Iranian oil exports.
Ahhh, I hadn’t thought about Iranian exports vis a vis Kharg Island even though I knew both of the sides of the puzzle (that the island is used for exports and that the Iranians are still exporting.)
Up until now I had been thinking about how it wouldn’t be useful for other countries to export since the Strait would still be closed.
But I still think it would be easier to just stop the tankers via naval methods than an invasion.
I’ve seen that speculation, but that would seem to be a strange target since it’s way deep inside the Gulf rather than at the Straits.
It would also be a prime target. Think Snake island in Ukraine. Impossible to hold for either side. A small immobile missile and drone sponge.
The Iranians are going to blow up their own oil facilities? Kharg Island is too valuable to the Iranians for them to attack - which makes it the perfect prize for the U.S. It’s the geopolitical equivalent of taking a family member hostage.
American boots on the ground in Iran.
Goody.
/s
(There was more to this post, but I saw the mod note about being critical of Trump.)
If it’s a choice between them or the US having it, yes.
The U.S. doesn’t need it. Held by the U.S., blown up, it doesn’t matter - either way, Iran loses.
Then they might as well shoot at it and hope to kill some Americans.
Right? What a strange exchange.
“Those 2200 marines would make a fine target on that island.”
“The Iranians wouldn’t blow up their own oil.”
“What if they do?”
“Who cares, it’s all the same to us.”
Fuck the 2200 marines, I guess.
You seem to think that the Iranian government will reasonably accept losing power without doing everything it can to make it as Pyrrhic a victory for their opponents as they can.
That doesn’t sound too likely to me.