There's something I simply can't wrap my head around. Before hitting Iran, did no one in Washington or Tel Aviv consider taking military control of the Strait of Hormuz first? That should have been the bare minimum — a prerequisite to avoid handing Tehran a decisive leverage over the entire operation.

    Instead, they went ahead anyway. And now we're staring at a potential global energy lockdown, caused by a strategic oversight that's nothing short of astonishing from an administration that always marketed itself as the one that gets things done.

    Did anyone in Washington or Tel Aviv think about securing the Strait of Hormuz before striking Iran?
    byu/walter-gianno inenergy



    Posted by walter-gianno

    26 Comments

    1. Obviously, we have career planners in federal agencies in military leadership who have spent 30-years thinking only about this.

      But doesn’t matter how much you plan it, we plan for Taiwan all the time. But we’re losing ships and aircraft and the global economy comes crashing down in any such conflict regardless.

      There are cynical American influences that say the closing of the strait hurt the rest of the world more than it hurts America (huge domestic production) and are okay with that. It hurts European and Asian markets much more.

    2. The question isn’t whether anyone in the Pentagon or Langley thought about this, the question is whether anyone in the oval office thinks at all or listens at all to anyone other than themselves.

    3. Raise_A_Thoth on

      Elect clowns expect a circus, mate.

      These people really are stupid, like truly fucking morons.

    4. Staraya_Ladoga on

      I think taking control of the strait first is extremely risky and never been part of Pentagon planning. It would involve putting warships within firing range of Iranian anti ship weapons right from the start when they’re at their strongest. From a military standpoint I think it doesn’t signify lack of planning that the strait hasn’t been attempted yet (that’s not to say that they will attempt it, only that any attempt would have to be after threats have been severely mitigated from the air).

    5. JamesTiberiusCrunk on

      Secure how? Iran sits on one side of the strait. You can’t take military control of the strait without invading Iran with ground troops. You can’t do that before starting the war because that inherently starts the war.

    6. There’s really no way to “secure” it without a land invasion. It’s too close to Iran’s coast so they can easily strike ships from land.

      Of course this fact has been a central part of all military planning regarding Iran for the last 30 years (if not longer). This administration just has the right combination of arrogance and stupidity to ignore all that.

    7. Defanging Iran is existential for Israel. It cannot exist as a modern country with ballistic missiles coming down every few months. The attacks on Iran was a gamble that for them was worth taking no matter the cost. Plus you cannot secure the straights of Hormuz.

    8. Ornery-Ticket834 on

      Of course not. They were listening to the military experts on Reddit who said it could really not be closed except maybe for a week.

    9. They were warned but disposed the experts who were telling them what they did not want to hear

    10. Dangerous_Junket_773 on

      Tel Aviv probably thought Washington would do it. 

      Washington (white house in particular) probably didn’t think at all. 

    11. >There’s something I simply can’t wrap my head around.

      I don’t think anyone can wrap their head around the stupidity of this administration. This is the exact reason why every other US administration has relied on economic sanctions and diplomacy to keep Iran in check and the world’s energy supply flowing.

    12. Yes, they did… trump ignored them. His sycophants told him Iran would roll over

    13. Suspicious_Dog4629 on

      It is likely they didn’t care about it being closed, and possibly actually want it to be.
      Given insider trading in the U.S along with production and over seeing Venezuela. Higher oil prices will make a handful of insiders incredibly rich. While destabilizing everyone else.
      As far as isreal goes they just stated they want the glow of oil and gas to come to them after the war.
      They would then control the money flow of their neighbors and would no doubt use that against them to further destabilize the region.

      https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-says-iran-no-longer-has-uranium-enrichment-capacity-2026-03-19/

    14. Irán has never done it before so they thought why would they do it now? Essentially they’ve been such good Stuarts they didn’t think Iran would hurt their own exports underestimating the pain the Irianians are willing to inflict on themselves and the world

    15. Relevant_Passenger43 on

      I think trump plays the jester well, short term loss is expected but this seems like a long term strat that reroutes energy markets to both Israel and USA in the long term. They just won’t tell you that part of the plan imo

    16. oldbutfeisty on

      The Strait isn’t easy at all to “secure”. Attempting to do so before any illegal acts of war would have also been illegal, and would have been viewed the same way as the attacks are viewed. It wouldn’t matter. Either way would have been equally stupid and illegal. It’s stunning anyone would think it was either possible or OK.

    17. How could the Strait really truely be secured? The threat is more related to missiles and drones. Those could be launched from anywhere within striking distance which is far outside the range of the strait itself. I wouldn’t even trust protols and guard ships sitting there to confident shoot down incoming ballistics. We were screwed the moment we decided to join in.

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