The U.S. has yet to begin escorting oil tankers through the treacherous Strait of Hormuz, something that increasingly looks like a high-risk proposition during the war with Iran.<\/p>\n
President Trump, who floated using escorts to reopen the waterway and avoid an oil crisis amid soaring global prices, so far has held off, opting instead for strikes against mine-laying vessels near the strait.<\/p>\n
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also deferred on any timeline for such a mission, saying Thursday it was his belief that the Navy, along with a possible international coalition, will begin escorting vessels through the Strait of Hormuz \u201cas soon as it is militarily possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a prospect as soon as \u2026 it is possible to ensure safe passage,\u201d he told Sky News.<\/p>\n
The hesitation betrays the dangerous nature of inserting American warships into the waters just off the Iranian coast, where they face direct attack by drones or shore-to-ship ballistic missiles as retaliation for the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war in the country, experts say.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenge is going to be dealing with the proximity of the drone launchers and the missile launchers that are going to be along the Iranian coast,\u201d said Bryan Clark, an expert in naval operations with the Hudson Institute.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe issue is that you only have a couple of minutes once the launcher comes out before the missiles are going to get on top of you, because you\u2019re only talking about 3 or 4 miles from the shoreline to the transit lane.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the world\u2019s most important choke points in seaborne shipping, the Strait of Hormuz is located between Oman and Iran, connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.<\/p>\n
Tehran has effectively blocked the waterway since the start of the war nearly two weeks ago, sending oil prices surging as ships fearing attack can\u2019t get through. About a fifth of the world\u2019s oil supply flows through the strait.<\/p>\n
Three cargo ships were struck by unknown projectiles in the Gulf on Wednesday, with another three\u00a0\u2060other\u2060 ships hit on Thursday \u2014 one of which was claimed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). That brings the number of reported attacks against vessels operating near the Iranian coast to at least 19.<\/p>\n
Iran has shown no sign that it will lift the blockade, even after threats and actions from the U.S. \u2014 with American forces destroying\u00a016 mine-laying vessels<\/a>\u00a0in the waterway Tuesday.<\/p>\n The IRGC has maintained that it will not allow \u201ceven a single liter of oil<\/a>\u201d to pass through until U.S. and Israeli strikes cease. A statement attributed to the newly selected supreme leader,\u00a0Mojtaba Khamenei,\u00a0on Thursday asserted that the Strait of Hormuz\u00a0will remain closed<\/a>.<\/p>\n The difficulty in protecting tankers and other ships in the strait lies in the narrowness of the waterway. It is only 21 miles from shore to shore at its smallest point, giving vessels little wiggle room to avoid Iranian-placed mines or missiles and rockets launched from the banks.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can shut down the strait through fear alone,\u201d retired Navy Rear Adm. and former Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Thursday on MS Now\u2019s \u201cMorning Joe.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIn the first few days of this war that\u2019s exactly why the strait was shut down. They hadn\u2019t fired a single drone, they hadn\u2019t shot a missile, they hadn\u2019t laid a mine, but nobody was going through that strait because they were afraid,\u201d Kirby said.<\/p>\n Trump last week first raised the idea of naval escorts for tankers in the strait \u201cif necessary,\u201d but on Monday, he hoped they wouldn\u2019t be needed.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen the time comes the U.S. Navy and its partners will escort tankers through the strait if needed. I hope it\u2019s not going to be needed, but if it\u2019s needed, we\u2019ll escort them right through,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But even with Naval escorts, an expensive and time-consuming mission, it\u2019s \u201cnot necessarily a guaranteed success,\u201d according to Kirby.<\/p>\n \u201cDrones can fly low and slow, they can fly fast and low, and they can do a lot of damage even to one ship with the Navy not being able to knock it out of the sky,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Protecting oil tankers in the strait came up in a classified briefing between U.S. military officials and top lawmakers Tuesday.<\/p>\n