“He also said that Iran warned that oil shipments through the strategic Strait of Hormuz will be in jeopardy if a war breaks out between Iran and the United States.”
I’ve read that Iran has 30-70 thousand mines ready to deploy. There are two ways of disposing of mines. You can sweep for them or hunt for them. Both are slow and only give you some probability that you’ve destroyed the mines. In actuality, some will still be there. The only way to keep the straights open is to destroy the mines while they are still in their warehouses. I can’t see Obama authorizing such a bombing.
Incidentally, the Navy has moved virtually all of its mine sweeping and hunting capability to the area. But sweepers and hunters can only work if the Iranian side of the straight has been neutralized. Otherwise, the sweepers and hunters will be killed in short order.
If the straights are closed, sure the cost of gas will go up, but nobody here will starve. In the rest of the world starvation will be the norm. That, in my opinion, is why America has been keeping the lid on the middle east for the last 50 years.
Destroying all their mine laying ships would help too.