Hormuz Limits |
President Donald Trump’s abrupt decision to pause “Project Freedom” barely 50 hours after launching it says less about diplomacy than about the changing nature of power in West Asia. The episode exposed a reality Washington has long resisted admitting: even the world’s strongest navy cannot fully control a strategic chokepoint when the weaker adversary has mastered disruption rather than direct confrontation. The Strait of Hormuz is not merely a narrow waterway between Iran and the Gulf monarchies.
It is the central artery of the global energy economy. Nearly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes through it. Any sustained instability there immediately affects insurance markets, shipping costs, energy prices, and investor confidence across continents. That is precisely why Iran does not need to formally blockade the strait to exert pressure. Fear itself becomes a strategic weapon. The United States entered the crisis with the assumption that naval escorts, destroyers, and overwhelming military visibility would reassure global shipping. Instead, the opposite happened. Commercial traffic reportedly continued to decline, insurers remained........