No. of Recommendations: 3
Okay, so in your mind there's literally nothing the US can do to get the Iranians to tone it down. We are completely helpless in the face of their awesome capabilities in the region.
Nope. We're not "helpless" at all - we could reduce their country to rubble if we wanted to bear the cost of doing it. No, you're not suggesting we do that. But everything short of that also has a cost. Whether it's a hand to the chest or a palm heel to the nose, they all come with costs. Especially since Iran isn't really doing anything that falls much outside international norms - supporting an insurgency that's rebelling against a government you oppose is pretty basic stuff, and more or less the inverse of what the Saudis are doing in Yemen.
To borrow the "bully" analogy, it's frustrating to be harassed by a bully - but if you just go and beat the bully up, they can send you to jail. So unless the harassing is so terrible, it usually isn't worth it - and it's always worth it to try to find a solution other than beating up the bully.
So why are we bothering to send ships in the Red Sea?
Oh, because Israel/Iran might end up blowing up anyway. Israel deeply embarrassed the regime by killing Hamiyeh there, and Iran's going to counterstrike - and if they miscalculate and hit too hard, you might start to see escalation there (and between Iranian client Syria and ally Iraq). So we need more resources in the area both to respond to, and try to discourage, a situation where things get way out of hand.
