April 29, 2026 | The Wall Street Journal
Reopening the Strait Is Now Job One in the Iran War
The regime has concluded that the ability to control the route is its ticket to survival and rejuvenation.
April 29, 2026 | The Wall Street Journal
Reopening the Strait Is Now Job One in the Iran War
The regime has concluded that the ability to control the route is its ticket to survival and rejuvenation.
Excerpt
America’s war with Iran has already transformed the Middle East. For years, the Islamic Republic’s clerical regime bragged that it could strangle the Persian Gulf. But it refrained from doing so, fearful of U.S. retaliation.
Two enormously destructive bombing campaigns in eight months altered Iran’s calculations. Neither its nuclear-weapons program nor its ballistic missiles deterred the U.S. and Israel. Today’s battle for the Strait of Hormuz offers the Islamic Republic an opportunity to resuscitate its fortunes and humble the U.S. For Tehran, controlling the waterway surely now takes precedence over advancing its damaged atomic ambitions.
Mr. Gerecht is a resident scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mr. Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.