https://edition.cnn.com/2026/03/22/middleeast/iran-war-history-tanker-wars-intl-hnk-ml
As President Donald Trump looks at ordering US Navy ships to escort oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, for naval analysts and historians, there’s a distinct feeling of “been there, done that.”
Almost 40 years ago, US Navy warships were facing the same enemy they’d be facing now, the navy and the sea forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The so-called Tanker War of the late 1980s saw some of the same weapons and problems a US escort force would face today, and provides lessons on how, in war, things can go wrong quickly in unexpected ways – with deadly consequences.
Another expression, oft overused, and wa-y--y-y too simplistic to have any practical value.
ReplyDeleteFirst a joke. A physicist is asked how to boil water given that the teapot is on the floor.
The physicist says to pick up the teapot, fill it at the sink, place it on the stove, and turn on the burner.
Next, a mathematician is asked how to boil water given that the teapot is on the counter.
The mathematician says, "Put the teapot on the floor. Reduces to a previously solved problem."
President Donald Trump felt he was on a world domination roll. He had a confident feeling after things went down well in Venezuela
And as we know, the Iran "excursion" went well at first. Some bumps along the way as far as messaging, but now the world recognizes that a nuclear weaponized Iran with re-purposed space rockets married with ballistic missiles to become cruise missiles capable of reaching beyond their previously stated self- imposed 2000 km limit would have been much harder to defeat. So, if not publicly, I think many people initially against the war who are parsing the reasons for the war now are ready to at least begrudgingly admit there is a method to it.
But now we are stuck. it's WWII with German leaders and Japanese leaders willing to bring down their countries rather than surrender or give in on any level. It's Vietnam where even after most of their fighters killed, the Viet Cong kept fighting. It's Gaza where Hamas still holds sway over a population that supports it despite many of the buildings being rubble.
It's "déjà vu all over again", a quote often attributed to Yogi Berra.
So, it seems that a long, drawn out ground war, is inevitable. This was wasn't how we wanted it.
I love how a war less than a month old has already been labelled a quagmire.
DeleteBecause it is a quagmire. Anything short of total defeat of Iran at this point will be considered victory by Iran and its anti-American cohorts including many leftists in the U.S.
DeleteBut the U.S., to win now, must invade Iran. I'm guessing a few more weeks of bombing military targets in a steady methodical way (but not power plants -- that empty threat was merely to rile up the Iranians to where they admitted they'll stop at nothing). Then a finale of throwing everything in the arsenal at Iran in a couple of days followed by the Marines occupying the coast and Kharg Island.
There are different ways it could end - they could reach an agreement or ceasefire, then go to negotiations again. BUt that means there will be a further war in the summer.
DeletePresident Trump doesn't want to negotiate. I'm seems to me he thinks he can crush them. So why negotiate, which means compromise, when he can have it all?
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