Subject: Re: The strategy,...is working
But you can't "take care of all that." Short- and medium-range ballistic missiles are cheap and relatively easy to build. Drones are even cheaper and easier to build. Terror proxies just cost money and small arms, and the threat to close off the strait of Hormuz can be accomplished with equipment as limited as drones, small and cheap missile launchers, or even just guys in a speedboat.

Sure, if the mullahs are still in charge.

No, we're not. China's middle east strategy has been to get all the countries there to sell it oil. It has pursued that strategy through economic and diplomatic means. Their strategy doesn't depend on Iran's conventional military forces, so degrading Iran's military forces doesn't degrade their strategy. And Iran's going to keep selling oil to China.

China's strategy in the Middle East is more than about oil. It's about enabling chaos and creating distractions/headaches/resource drains for the United States in every way that it can.