Opening The Strait of Hormuz
By 
Iran now has a lock on ships going into and out of the Persian Gulf, where they pick up oil, fertilizer, helium, aluminum, and other things necessary to the world economy. What would it take to break that lock? This question is often put as “What would it take to open the Strait of Hormuz?” but it is much broader than that.
Certainly the military has plans for operations in that area. A group of Marines (2500 or 5000, I’ve seen both numbers) is being brought in from the Pacific to perhaps carry out one of them. But a military operation at the Strait is not the way to break Iran’s lock.
That lock goes beyond mining (which they may or may not have done) a narrow piece of water. Iran has drones and missiles that can hit ships in the Gulf or the Strait, or areas outside. So an operation aimed at holding the land adjacent to the Strait would not break the lock.
Totally destroying Iran’s military capacity might, and it seems to be Israel’s objective and Trump’s brag that it has been done. But it hasn’t, and it’s hard to see how it will be. Ending Trump’s war and diplomacy will be the only way. Let’s hope that’s the plan by our European allies.
