Leaderboard

Say, Europe, Japan, et al, we, the US are net exporters of oil/energy now. Other than the principal of freedom of navigation, the Straits are not nearly as important to us now as they are to you. We'll put a few Patriot batteries in Saudi Arabia, y'all got the rest. If it's important to you, you'll step up. We can be fine "leading from behind" on this one. The economic squeeze we are applying to the Mullahs and all the apparatus that relies on them for their cheap gas, pensions, etc, is working just fine. Sure beats us sending gazillions of dollars to Tehran via clandestine cargo planes any day.

Except the Saudi’s have consistently shown themselves to be one of the most incompetent fighting forces in the history of warfare (billions of dollars in some of the best US military hardware hasn’t doesn’t mean anything when you’re unwilling to maintain it or learn how to employ it effectively). They’re not gonna go after Iran on their own, they’re barely holding their own against the Houthis. I’d highly encourage anyone interested in what’s unfolding in the Gulf right now to read Andrew Bacevich’s America’s War for the Greater Middle East. It’s a fairly depressing read; there’s a lot of historical parallels going on right now (understanding that it’s not direct ie history doesn’t repeat itself but it does rhyme).

I believe this explains everything when it comes to the Navy and this unfortunate situation:

Everything Bacevich has written should be required reading.

Maybe for all you anti-Trumpers. TL;DR version of Bacevich's views: Obama's approach to Iran was great. Trump is a disaster.