{"id":29298,"date":"2026-03-21T06:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T06:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/29298\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T06:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T06:24:08","slug":"how-can-the-strait-of-hormuz-be-reopened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/29298\/","title":{"rendered":"How\u00a0can\u00a0the Strait of Hormuz\u00a0be reopened?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

American bunker buster bombs were dropped on the coast by the Strait of Hormuz, but even the\u00a05,000-pound munitions<\/a>\u00a0have not cracked the impasse over the waterway Iran is holding hostage as the world grapples with how to unblock the passage through which one-fifth of the world’s energy transits.<\/p>\n

U.S. Central Command\u00a0touted<\/a>\u00a0Tuesday\u2019s strikes as hitting hardened missile sites along Iran\u2019s coastline from where anti-ship cruise missiles risk shipping\u00a0in the strait.<\/p>\n

Since\u00a0the war in Iran started on February 28, at least 20 commercial vessels have been attacked off the Iranian coast, not all of them in the vicinity of the Hormuz Strait,\u00a0according to the BBC. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Iran insists the strait is only closed to the U.S. and Israel and countries attacking the Islamic Republic, but the 138 ships that used to pass through the waterway per day have dwindled to half a dozen, with drones, missiles, fast attack boats and mines posing ongoing dangers which have spooked maritime insurers.<\/p>\n

The Thai-flagged bulk carrier Mayuree Naree<\/a>\u00a0was struck on March 11 by projectiles in the strait, as was the U.S.-owned crude oil tanker Safesea Vishnu, which was sailing under the Marshall Islands flag.<\/p>\n

\"\"Capturing\u00a0Kharg Island\u00a0<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump is unlikely to end the war on his terms unless he breaks Iran’s chokehold\u00a0on the strait. His administration is considering occupying or imposing a blockade on Iran\u2019s Kharg\u00a0Island to pressure Tehran,\u00a0according to Axios, citing four unnamed sources with knowledge of the issue.\u00a0However, any move to seize the island 15 miles offshore, where 90 percent of Iran’s crude oil exports are processed, could put U.S. troops more directly in the line of fire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This could only happen after the U.S. military further degrades Iran’s military capacity around the strait, but it would also require more troops, which the White House and the Pentagon are considering, according to the outlet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Retired Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery told Axios that such a mission could expose U.S. troops to\u00a0high risk\u00a0and that seizing Kharg Island would see Iran \u201cturn off the spigot on the other end. It’s not like we\u00a0control\u00a0their oil production.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Montgomery told the outlet it was more likely that, following two more weeks of attacks to degrade Iran’s capabilities, the U.S. would send destroyers and\u00a0aircraft\u00a0to escort tankers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Combined Maritime Forces\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trump<\/a> has said that NATO faces a \u201cvery bad future\u201d if allies\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0help, but European countries\u00a0are\u00a0balancing\u00a0a reluctance<\/a>\u00a0to join a war they\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0start\u00a0with fears the U.S. might\u00a0abandon the trans-Atlantic alliance if they don’t heed his call.\u00a0<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron\u00a0has rejected\u00a0Trump’s claims that\u00a0his country\u00a0would\u00a0help unblock\u00a0the\u00a0strait,\u00a0and Japan, Germany and Luxembourg have also expressed a similar sentiment.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A\u00a0multinational naval force has been mooted, such as the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), a long-established Bahrain-based grouping, to operate in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz,\u00a0and the approaches from the Indian Ocean.\u00a0The CMF has\u00a0been used repeatedly since 2001,\u00a0mainly in the Middle East, the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

It could be repurposed to protect vessels passing through the Strait, which would be easier than setting up a grouping from scratch, with the possibility that some of its 47 member nations can opt out, Kevin Rowlands, a journal editor at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), a London think tank, told Newsweek.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe downside of using CMF could be that it has links\u00a0with and\u00a0dependencies on the U.S. Navy in the region and so, if not carefully managed, it could be seen as an extension of them and not a truly independent body,\u201d Rowlands said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another\u00a0option\u00a0could be\u00a0a European mission akin to the EU\u2019s Aspides operation that has helped to patrol and defend shipping against the threat from Iran\u2019s proxies, the Houthis, in the southern Red Sea.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

But a\u00a0multinational mission to open and keep open the Strait of Hormuz would\u00a0probably have\u00a0to be commanded by anyone but an American,\u00a0most likely\u00a0from\u00a0the Gulf states, Rowlands said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Contributing forces could come from the region or Europe and the Indo-Pacific,\u00a0and would\u00a0likely resemble\u00a0a maritime peacekeeping force rather than an offensive one.\u00a0However, Rowlands said it would need to be able to defend itself and the vessels it is escorting\u2014proactively\u00a0if necessary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There would\u00a0also need to be logistic support regionally, including food,\u00a0fuel\u00a0and repair facilities,\u00a0such as via Dubai, Bahrain in the Gulf, or Duqm in Oman.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether or not those countries would want to be seen providing that support is a political call, but we should remember that it is their economies which depend\u00a0almost entirely\u00a0on the flow of oil,” added Rowlands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Easing\u00a0Insurers\u2019\u00a0Fears\u00a0<\/p>\n

Operation Earnest Will was launched in 1987 and 1988\u00a0by the U.S. to protect Kuwaiti-owned tankers from Iranian attack.\u00a0Four decades on, Iran\u2019s drone and missile capabilities are greater, the U.S. Navy\u2019s fleet is half the size, and the 300 vessels currently stranded would be time-consuming and costly to clear.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead\u00a0of\u00a0escorting individual vessels through the entire 500-mile Gulf transit,\u00a0Gregg Roman,\u00a0executive director of the Middle East Forum (MEF), a U.S. think tank, said there should be a defended corridor through the 21-mile-wide\u00a0strait itself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u00a0have to\u00a0have a screen.\u00a0You\u00a0have to\u00a0have littoral class ships that the U.S. has stationed in Bahrain,\u201d he\u00a0said, \u00a0\u201ca lot of people talk about them just for\u00a0their mine laying operations, they’re\u00a0also quite significant in taking out\u00a0speedy\u00a0attack craft that the IRGC Navy has left.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vessels would\u00a0come from\u00a0the Gulf of Oman, transit the defended corridor in organized convoys and air cover, then disperse inside the Gulf.\u00a0This would reduce the escort\u00a0distance\u00a0from\u00a0500\u00a0miles\u00a0to\u00a040\u00a0miles.<\/p>\n

Roman does not see\u00a0Iran\u2019s Hormuz closure as a conventional naval blockade but rather an insurance-driven shutdown of commercial\u00a0shipping in which fear, not mines, is the main weapon for Iran.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He told Newsweek that Iran does not need to\u00a0maintain\u00a0a\u00a0blockade\u00a0but only needs to carry out occasional strikes to prove that transiting through it is too risky\u00a0for insurance\u00a0underwriters.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s alternative means of providing protection and insurance schemes by saying, \u2018the United States will assume the liability associated with your underwriting of coverage for a tanker,’\u201d Roman said.\u00a0“So\u00a0the US could take the role of secondary insurance\u00a0provider\u00a0so long as the primary insurance provider would feel that they have a fallback\u00a0option.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alternative Energy Routes\u00a0<\/p>\n

Alternative energy corridors are also key, Roman said. Routes via Saudi Arabia\u2019s 750-mile East-West pipeline from the Abqaiq oil field to Yanbu at the Red Sea, as well as the United Arab Emirates\u2019s Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline (ADCOP) from Habshan to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman, can also partially ease the pressure on oil supplies.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Roman said another option for the U.S. would be to co-opt the Ahvazi Arabs who live in Khuzestan Province, marginalized by Tehran.\u00a0\u201cYou have to make the IRGC turn their guns inward,\u201d he\u00a0said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But another lever is to emphasize that Iran\u2019s closure hurts Iran at least as much as it hurts the coalition, because its own oil exports transit Hormuz.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u00a0have to\u00a0have a multi-layered asymmetrical effort,\u201d said Roman, \u201ca convoy effort, an alternative\u00a0means\u00a0of transporting energy effort\u2014everything\u00a0has to\u00a0be done in concert.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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