Suck it up. Sacrifice. Freedom isn’t free. We’ve got brown people to bomb, and pedophilia to distract you from.
Yadda yada.
Iran has begun laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important energy chokepoint that carries about one-fifth of all crude oil, according to two people familiar with US intelligence reporting on the issue.
The mining is not extensive yet, with a few dozen having been laid in recent days, the sources said. But Iran still retains upward of 80% to 90% of its small boats and mine layers, one of the sources said, so its forces could feasibly lay hundreds of mines in the waterway.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which now effectively controls the strait along with Iran’s traditional navy, has the capability to deploy a “gauntlet” of dispersed mine-laying craft, explosive-laden boats and shore-based missile batteries, CNN has reported.
President Donald Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday that “if Iran has put out any mines in the Hormuz Strait, and we have no reports of them doing so, we want them removed, IMMEDIATELY!”
The U.S. Navy has refused near-daily requests from the shipping industry for military escorts through the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war on Iran, saying the risk of attacks is too high for now, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The Navy’s assessments spell continued disruption to Middle East oil exports and reflect a divergence from President Donald Trump’s statements that the U.S. is prepared to provide naval escorts whenever neededto restart regular shipments along the key waterway.
Mining is often viewed as a last-resort strategy for a Hormuz closure because of its equal effectiveness on Iran’s own shipping. Until now, Iran’s shadow fleet has quietly continued exports to China through the narrow route, without incident; meanwhile, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps keeps it shut for most Western tonnage using the threat of missile, bomb-boat and drone strikes. This differential access for different fleets would likely end the moment that mines are deployed, and Iran’s petroleum exports – essential for long-term regime survival – would cease.
If Iran does decide to move ahead, estimates suggest that it has at least 2,000 mines in its inventory, along with the means to deploy them. The U.S. military is actively working on destroying all Iranian minelayers, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine said Tuesday – but the task could be difficult. The explosive devices can be launched from small craft and midget subs, not just the vessels of Iran’s numbered fleet (now largely destroyed). Interdicting this flotilla along the rugged coastline of the Gulf of Oman and Persian Gulf could prove challenging. Multiple analysts have noted that the threat need not be confined to the Strait of Hormuz: though this choke point is uniquely vulnerable, other adjacent sea lanes, anchorages and loading terminals could also be targeted.
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Below, Aljazeera reports vessels in the Strait have been “hit by projectiles”.
It’s almost like the geniuses in the Trump administration never saw this coming.
We know the US has published video of US missile strikes on decoy missile sites, which makes me think a lot of those images of small, empty-looking boats being blown up might include some random dummy boats that Iran effectively uses to soak up expensive US armaments.
Iranian drones are shooting down interceptors
Not the other way around.