Subject: Re: Hegseth's comments / global blockade
But first one must understand that by that point the US' goal was to get out of Vietnam. That was literally the only goal at that point as after all, Nixon had campaigned on it.

Sure - you can always choose to abandon your initial strategic goals and take whatever you can get, or just negotiate the terms where you cut and run. But that's hardly a masterstroke of success.

Secondly, you're not factoring in the economic costs that Iran is reaping here for themselves.

I am. Iran will suffer terribly economically. Whether we blockade the strait or whether we bomb all their civilian facilities.

But that doesn't really help us achieve our strategic goals. In war, it is possible for both sides to lose, and lose badly - so simply pointing out that Iran is suffering does not in any way mean we are moving to achieve our goals.

Except. They don't control the strait.
Haven't you found it curious that we haven't seen much if any footage of mines being destroyed? How many merchant ships have actually been hit at all? The last time Iran closed the strait there was all kinds of pictures of burning cargo ships.

They do control the strait. The mines weren't what stopped ships from going through - it was land-based attacks that made it too risky for them to proceed. That threat is still there. Traffic through the strait is still a tiny fraction of what it was before, and is still limited to vessels that are allies of Iran.

First off, this is absent a reckoning of our tactical objectives.

No one has criticized or question our ability to achieve our tactical objectives. The U.S. military has performed flawlessly. All of our critiques are pointing out that achieving our tactical objectives will not achieve our strategic objectives.

Which was always the plan, btw.

Then why didn't we blockade the strait at the beginning of the war? Why did we temporarily lift sanctions on Iranian oil?

It wasn't always the plan. We never planned that the strait would be closed. It's an adjustment to what the Iranians have done to try to minimize the strategic advantage they gained by demonstrating they could successfully attack vessels in the strait.

And speaking of the economy, have you looked into where a lot of supertankers are headed toward right now? What do you think are the implications of that?

They're heading to the U.S., and the implications are that domestic energy prices will track global energy prices - vastly higher than they were before the war, imposing a major drag on the U.S. economy and exposing us to the risk of recession and shortages as everyone else in the world if an accommodation with Iran isn't reached soon.