The U.S. Navy has refused near-daily requests from the shipping industry for military escorts through the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war on Iran, saying the risk of attacks is too high for now, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The Navy’s assessments spell continued disruption to Middle East oil exports and reflect a divergence from Donald Trump’s statements that the U.S. is prepared to provide naval escorts whenever needed to restart regular shipments along the key waterway.
Shipping along the narrow strait has all but halted since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran more than a week ago, preventing exports of around a fifth of the world’s oil supply and sending global oil prices surging to highs not seen since 2022.
I’m quite sure a lot of the high level commanders here have very little actual investment in this “war” as they’ve seen how unhinged, random and scatterbrained the administration has been with foreign policy.
Imagine spending your life training for the most harrowing missions and highest-level tactics, and then being sent basically to a random country to attack for unspecified reasons, and then being told “Go send your multi-million dollar boats filled with irreplaceable sailors through that channel filled with mines so oil tankers can get around faster or something, don’t think about it. We promise we won’t pull out of this whole mess in a week bro. Promise.”
What exactly is an escort going to do for submerged mines anyway? Take pics? “Oh shit it blew up! Wow. Hope it’s not us next.”