“The island is mostly useless as long as the Straits are closed”
You are wrong, in two ways, first the Straight is not closed it’s closed to USA and Israeli ships , China, India and Pakistan have all had ships with their AIS beacons on transit right near the Iranian coast outside the normal lane and with full Iranian permission.
Secondly see point one as long as Iran let’s their ships and buddies ships go through that island is funding their regime.
That island is going to capturned or destroyed it’s the only way to starve the mullahs. The choice is Marines on the ground or AF blowing it to bits but either way the oil must stop flowing under their control.
So the price of oil is up purely on speculators in the market? I think supply is somewhat constrained, even if there are ships sailing with their transponders off. Some ships probably want to avoid the entire area. So technically I concede my error, but this article says only 21 ships have passed through between Feb 28 and March 17th.
I agree, taking the Island has to be a priority to cut off all flow of cash to the Iranian regime. It is not without risk. Prayers for our servicemen. My guess is this is why Trump wants the UK and France to come in... so we take the Island and decide who gets the oil and where they should send the money... while the Euros defend the tankers since we’re preoccupied with other priorities for now.