America’s Must-Win Battle of Hormuz

Excerpt

To judge a war as it unfolds is risky. Winners and losers can change rapidly. Nonetheless, the continuing scrimmages in the Persian Gulf, the fluctuation in oil prices, the intensifying fear among the Arab Gulf states of a longer, larger conflict, and Donald Trump’s erratic and sometimes bizarre commentary have long suggested American confusion and Iranian advantage.

Now add the possibly game-changing recent advance of Iran-allied Houthis along the Red Sea, the successful drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline by Iran-allied Iraqi militias, and Mr. Trump’s hesitancy to respond to both. Without more effective American military action or an Iranian economic collapse, a U.S. victory seems elusive.

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.