Mar. 14 at 1:33 AM
$VG from an aricle in Fortune: “To be sure, the Navy has long planned for an Iranian blockade of the strait and previously escorted ships through the Persian Gulf in the past during the so-called tanker wars in the late 1980s.
But Iran’s military capabilities weren’t as sophisticated as today’s, and the Navy’s fleet was twice as large. Meanwhile, numerous ships are still carrying out operations in the Caribbean.
In addition, there are more than 300 ships stranded in the Gulf due to Iran’s de facto blockade, and the slower pace required to escort them though the strait means getting all of them out could take months—or even years.
Top commodity analyst Jeff Currie, chief strategy officer at Carlyle Energy Pathways, told The Economist the cost of a single escort would exceed the value of the cargo it trying to protect.”
I will add that the US Navy is not yet willing to enter the straights because they would be sitting ducks for a whole number of Iranian tactics/weapons.
