Posted on 03/14/2026 11:42:30 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
A former U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) official said Iran is holding the world’s energy supply hostage using "World War I-style" tactics.
Iran has responded to U.S. and Israeli strikes by halting shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for global oil. The regime is using sea mines, which it has reportedly stockpiled by the thousands, to make traversing the strait difficult and deadly.
"This is a nightmare more than 30 years in the making," former CENTCOM Communications Director Col. Joe Buccino (Ret.) said Saturday on "Fox & Friends Weekend."
"What you just indicated there on your wall is a World War I-style of combat that Iran is waging," he added.
The mines can detonate either on the surface of the water or below, with an explosion that would likely tear a hole through a ship’s hull, potentially sinking or disabling it. Buccino said that while the United States possesses superior high-end technology, the mines are an effective threat.
"These mines are a tool of really psychological warfare. We don't know how many are out there. We don't know where they are. And that creates fear and shuts down flow through the Strait of Hormuz," he said.
Buccino said the mines are becoming a difficult problem because the U.S. Navy has "decommissioned" most of its mine-clearing ships. He warned that Iran is likely aware of this and is "exploiting a gap" in U.S. naval assets.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
“decommissioned most of our minesweepers”
What a brilliant move in a world going more and more bonkers.
Very piratical of them.
It is a vital artery for energy only for those countries willing to let sand folks generate the energy.
So, re-start your nukes and coal fired plants and ignore the oil except from countries who don’t tolerate arseholes for neighbors.
The stuff about needing “minesweepers” is misleading. They have been replaced.
I’m so sick of the soap opera news programs on both sides of the war. What Iran is doing is not a “nightmare.” The US has a plan and if it executes quickly, it will mitigate what Iran has done. But by the same token, the US did not “obliterate” Iran’s military capacity. Obviously not if they still are lobbing missiles and drones into the straits and driving the price of oil above $100 per barrel. I’m sick of it. CNN says the war is “out of control.” No, its not. They Fox says something stupid like “with one move, Trump checkmated Iran.” No, he didn’t. I long for the days when war correspondence was rational.
The economic stakes here are enormous, acting as a massive accelerator for innovation and rapid deployment of advanced tech.
Success here could catalyze a new era of autonomous maritime security, AI-enabled threat prediction, and faster global response to chokepoint disruptions. Failures (or slow progress) would highlight gaps, but the market forces at play ensure aggressive iteration.
We’ll likely see tangible breakthroughs reported in the coming weeks as ops ramp up—watch for announcements on unmanned system performance or new coalition tech integrations.
Dammit. It’s inhumane to use the dolphins for this.
Mine the Iranian ports. Allow no supplies in or out by sea.
‘Former’.
The cadre of Trump haters at FNC will seek out any negative IQ they can find and put it on the air.
“” A _former_ U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) official””
FUD
You don’t think someone on active duty is going on Fox, do you?
Both Fox and CNN absolutely suck as news sources.
Maybe because I already agree with a conservative viewpoint, listening to Fox pretend it’s news makes me want to throw up.
Sadly, when it comes to news reporting ability, Fox is actually worse than CNN.
There are no known mines in the strait.
Agree. That was STUPID and shortsighted.
Backing myself out...the HEADLINE makes it look that way.
FUD is the ether influencers and foreign adversaries use to discourage your interests in order to promote their own.
The sad part is that I support the war. But when I watch Fox, all I see are Fox “experts” who say things like “the US has completely destroyed Iran’s capacity to fight” or “Iran is out of options”. Yet, the next day, Iran does something like fires drones or missiles at ships in the straits and hits them, causing a panic in the oil markets. Do the Fox hosts ask their experts - “Hey, yesterday you said that Iran had no more military capacity. How are they able to cause such havoc in the straits then?” Naah. Its a brand new day and no one has to explain what they said the day before. So its more cheerleading and more “we obliterated Iran again today.” I want real news about realistic progress. Not cheerleading.
And what about those Navy seals?;-)
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