Would they still talk of having escorts, one escort per tanker? Iran can sink both of them and the US$300 billion investment is going nowhere in solving the problem.
Want to solve the problem? End the war on Iran's term, remove the USA from the Middle East and it will be back to normal. But no way, as Trump and Netanyahu need a war to survive. They need a scapegoat to remain in the Middle East. The USA needs to control the Gulf states, especially the oil flow which sustains the US$ hegemony. Pricing oil in Yuan means the end of the Petrodollar. Clear and simple.
But one thing is certain. The USA remaining in the Middle East means the war will continue, the ending unknown. Even if the USA succeeds against all odds in overcoming Iran with boots on the ground, how long can the USA continue being the occupier fighting a guerilla war like in Vietnam. Iran already warned of setting the whole Middle East on fire. And that spells a prolong curb on the oil flow.
Anonymous
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Iran has probably already mined sections of the Straits of Hormuz, which has been declared closed officially. Which is why it warned ships that they need its map to avoid the mines. So far Iran is not joking regarding what it does and not backtracking on its claims. It is piling on the pressure and even the mighty USA navy cannot do anything.
This is again another lesson learnt by China - Be Prepared. Iran has been thinking out its strategy for decades, knowing this day will come. Small Iranian submarines, unseen on the surface, untracked by surface means have been laying its most secret weapon - naval mines. Minesweepers can sweep mines by cutting cables holding them on the ocean floor or detonating them using traditional methods of simulating passing vessel's hull. But if the mines are remotely controlled, that poses a different problem needing a different approach.
China has learned much from this war against Iran and is taking good notes of Iranian strategy albeit one ancient Civilization helping another.
China is not involved directly in this war, has not fired a single bullet, has not lost a single soldier, but is reaping tremendous benefits, just watching and just taking notes in comfort in a military establishment in China. Many analysts are now saying that China is the biggest winner of this conflict. I tend to agree.
But much actually depends on those preparations China was already making before the war even started. And all that preparation is making sense now. China's ambition of electrifying its transport system - high speed rails and the mass migration from ICE vehicles to EVs have reaped great returns from its investments. That has cut off a chunk of its dependence on fossil fuel. China is still building hydropower dams all over, nuclear power stations, solar farms and wind turbine farms. When oil was cheap, China stockpiled in preparation. All these are not white elephants for show. They are projects of National Security significance. Not building of massive data centers which are power guzzlers, needing more fossil fuel to upkeep and upending the decision to be less dependent on more fossil fuel going forward.
Apart from reaping the benefits of preparations that were made decades earlier, China has gathered important military strategies from this war. It has found great effectiveness with its anti-aircraft hypersonic drones and missiles and how to deter such aircraft carriers from moving closer to shore to launch fighter jets to carry out carpet bombing. As the range of those hypersonic drones and missiles are refined to have even longer range, that might even spell the demise of aircraft carriers, which were the masters of the sea during WW2. Such aircraft carriers were still used by the USA to threaten other countries leveraging on its projection of power, but its function has now been crippled by Iran. That they were called 'sitting ducks' years ago has now been exposed by reality.
As I said before, China is also using Iran to test its satellite system, its hypersonic drones and missiles, which have so far enabled Iran to target strategic sites like radar systems, interceptor batteries, military bases, USA linked assets, all done with precision, unlike in the past when Iran was using GPS system. It was perhaps foolish for Iran to use USA GPS system knowing it had been greatly compromised and interfered with. But then, Iran had no other choice until switching to BeiDou while fighting the war in June 2025.
Well, so much strategic information has been revealed by this war, and it will shape China's PLA strategy in future wars, with everything like satellite target fixing, hypersonic missiles, homing devices all built inhouse and not subject to outside control or interference.
This war is actually a wakeup call to the Arabs in the middle east to think carefully about letting the USA stay in their backyard. By now they should had realised that the US only bring trouble and not peace. The Arabs should come together and setup an organisation to look after the security of the whole middle east and don't allow any foreign country to have any military base/asset there. The terrorist Israel will think twice about causing problem in the future.
The Arabs know that they have to live with the Iranians forever, but not the USA. The USA is there just to preserve its USA hegemony leveraging on maintaining the survival of the Petrodollar. Once the link is cut, the game is over. Which is why the Arabs are not retaliating, despite being targeted by Iranian drones and missiles.
And the Straits of Hormuz is the Arab's survival lifeline. What were the USA protecting with all those USA military bases, when in normal peace times the Straits of Hormuz poses no problems for everybody using it.
Iran does not need to produce oil now, just collecting tolls for ships passing the Straits of Hormuz is enough. Let us say, just issuing a piece of paper designated as 'Certificate of Entitlement' fee or COE in Singapore's context. Goodness me, there are so many ways to make easy money.
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