I wonder if General Dempsey has any relatives named Jack.
I wonder if anyone takes Leon Panetta seriously, including himself.
The question is what would it take to reopen the Strait, and would the precipitate war?
AHA! Indirect, but still confirmation of our secret underground nuclear sub bases in F ghanistan.
I would hope that a “coalition” of Oil Importing Nations, Such as Japan, various European nations, the USA and maybe even China would be asked to impose an international force that would patrol and keep the Straits open and would establish a “demilitarized zone” around the Straits that was closed to all but Coalition of Oil Importing Nations military.
My hope for this is that if Iran decided to challenge the coalition, that we and others would have a clear reason (their violation of the demilitarized zone) to bomb and destroy all Iranian military targets on a near continuous basis and go after their command and control facilities and their leadership so as to encourage regime change in Iran.
It is time the the Iran leadership got the sword they so dearly like to rattle shoved up their *@s.
At the first moment they block the passage, gas prices go to $50 a gallon. No oil, no gas. And we refuse to drill here because a bunch of liberal commie so called scientists say we will destroy some dirt.
The strait is too narrow—we should bomb hell out of the eastern shores until there is more room—say an extra 800 miles...
...just for the safety of international navigation of course.
Eilat is an ideal port to dock submarines as well, but I hear limited infrastructure for repair, and hope it will be upgraded. Submarines to operate from Eilat will allow Israel to strike Iran from the south.
Won't happen as long as Odumbo is in the white house.
While closing the Strait of Hormuz, even briefly, would hurt Saudi Arabia, Iraq and other Gulf oil exporters, the Saudis also ship oil via the Red Sea.
All of Iran’s exports and many of its imports of gasoline, food and consumer goods are shipped through the strait.
So, shut down the Strait of Hormuz and Iran has no money, no gas, no jet fuel, no diesel fuel, no food and no goods coming in.
Hummmm...
Iran also pizzes off all of it's OPEC neighbors for causing such an inconvenience.
Again, hummm...
Aside from a temporary bump in gas and oil (no, I don't believe that $150.00 bbl much less the 200.00 bbl crap) it is difficult to see the downside here.
If Iran really believes that is the way to go, the United States Navy is going to push a few buttons, launch a few aircraft and a significant portion of Iran's Navy will go the way of a fart in a hot tub. Gross and smelly for a few seconds, then things go back to normal.
The Kilo's might take a day or two longer...
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How about drilling for our own oil?