Gunboat diplomacy ramps up in Hormuz Strait, endangering shaky ceasefire |
Gunboat diplomacy ramps up in Hormuz Strait, endangering shaky ceasefire
While the U.S., Iran and Israel have largely halted the barrage of missile, bomb and drone strikes that defined the first month of the war, a tit-for-tat battle is escalating at sea.
The U.S. military and Iran both seized tankers in international waters this week, and Tehran struck vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump threatened further escalation on Thursday, ordering the Navy to fire on any Iranian ships that are placing mines in the strait, a vital shipping lane that carries about one-fifth of all global crude oil in peacetime.
The gunboat diplomacy threatens to undermine a ceasefire that has largely held on land, potentially escalating a conflict that has already caused a global energy crisis, experts say.
“This is sort of this test of wills,” said Jason Campbell, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. “The U.S. isn’t carrying out airstrikes in Iran like it was. It is moving to the seas as a means of being able to exert some level of pressure. Iran has done so the same way.”
He added: “We have what is really a ceasefire mostly in name.”
The Strait of Hormuz is currently under a so-called double-blockade, with Iran threatening ships from unfriendly nations and Washington turning back most Iran-linked vessels. Trump on Tuesday extended the ceasefire indefinitely to give Tehran time to come to the negotiating table with a peace proposal but said the U.S. would maintain the status quo at sea.
The conflict is soon to enter its ninth week, surpassing Trump’s original timeline of four to six weeks.
While Washington waits, the U.S. military seized at least three tankers carrying oil from Iran, including one in the Indian Ocean overnight on Wednesday, and the officials said American forces have directed........