los angeles (oc).–President Donald Trump reassured markets yesterday saying the Iran war was near complete, apparently abandoning any hope of regime change. Appointing the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s son Mojtaba Khamenei shows that the mullah regime has no intent of surrendering power with no popular uprising in Iran. Iran’s public has been beaten into submission after the latest bloody crackdown where at least 36,000 street protesters were slaughtered by Iranian authorieis with thousands more jailed awaiting liquidation. So, when it comes to Trump’s hope of a new government that would be friendly to the United States, it doesn’t look that its happening. Whatever benefits Trump got from the war, it certainly wasn’t with world oil markets. Trump’s war drove world oil prices to over $120 a barrel causing panic especially with American consumers.
Trump’s promise of lower fuel prices was going fine until he decided to join Israel’s lastest war with Iran, driving oil prices to their highest level since 2022. “There’s a big question mark over how long people can put up with the costs of this conflict,” said Clondagh Raleigh, CEO of U.S. cris monitoring group Armed Conflict Location and Event Data [ACLED]. Costing the U.S. Treasury at least $1 billion a day, Trump has a short runway to complete what he started. Consequences to U.S. financial markets have disrupted markets, caused the Down Jones Industral Average to drop narly 2,000 points. Trump has no answer how to open up the Strait of Hormuz without risking U.S. naval assets and lives. Trump doesn’t want to take a risk with U.S. assets and U.S. sailors to take on Iran in the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arbia has already moved its tankers through the Red Sea.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi said the new mullah government would not longer negotiate on anything with the United States. “ Certainly, wer are not seeking a ceasefire, we believe the aggressor must be struckin mouth so that they learn a lesson and never again think of attacking dear Iran,” said Mohamman Daqer Qalifbaf poste on X. Every day the war goes on Iran, Iran loses more military capability, despite pretending that they don’t want the war to stop. Iran has been taking a beating militarily, no longer feared like they once were in the Persian Gulf. Iran’s military only has ballistic missiles to attack neighboring countries undermining relations with Gulf Arab States. Iran won’t be mending fences anytime soon with the Arab Gulf States hit by Iran. U.S. and Israeli war planes continue to strike targets all over Iran to degrade Iran’s ballistic missile capability.
U.S. military planners found out it’s not that easy to go after Iran’s ballistic missile launchers because of how the Islamic Republican decentralizes them all over the country. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu find themselves unable to locate many to the mobile rocket lauchers stationed in secret locations around the country. As long as Iran continues to fire missiles at the Arab Gulf States, the U.S. and Israel won’t be able to end the conflict. If the U.S. and Israel stop the war, Iran could continue striking U.S. assets in bases around the Arab Gulf States. Trump said that if Iran continues to blockade the Strait of Hormuz the U.S. will strike with even more ferocity. What the means is anyone’s guess other than going after more of the mullah’s headquarters in Tehran. Trump should consider a military operation to neutralize Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.
If Trump could end Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, he would go a long way in ending the economic fallout from the war. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf State have already diverted tankers to the Red Sean where they face potentially more threats with Yemen’s Houthi rebels controlling the Gulf of Aden. We will hit them so hard that it will not be possible for them or anybody else helping them to ever recover that section of the world,” Trump said yesterday. Unless Trump devises a plan to neutralize Iran in the Strait of Hormuz Iran will continue to descript 20% of the world’s oil supplie normally coming through the Strait of Hormuz. Whatever risks to U.S. naval assets of sailors, Trump must open up the Strait of Hormuz to minimize the economic damage. As long as Trump prosecutes the Iran War, he can’t ignore the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they will not allow a liter of oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz, signaling that they’re in fact in charge of the war. “We are the ones who will determine the end of the war,” said a Republican Guard Spokesman. Pentagon planners must go back to the drawing board and devise a plan to eliminate Iran from the Strait of Hormuz. As long as Iran controls the Strait, there’s little the U.S. can do to restore the flow of oil through the Persian Gulf. Iran knows the Strait of Hormuz is an international waterway, not something they control because of proximity to Iran. Israel knows all the coordinates of Iran’s fortifications in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump should order Netanyahu to go after all Republican Guard positions in the Strait of Hormuz. Going after Iran’s rocket and drone launchers won’t open up the Strait of Hormuz to Gulf oil tankers.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
