February 27, 2026
Jasim Al-Azzawi
( Middle East Monitor ) – For decades, American military planners have operated on a simple assumption: that overwhelming force, applied decisively, could resolve almost any crisis in the Persian Gulf. Iran, it turns out, has spent years making that assumption obsolete — not by building a navy capable of matching America’s, but by turning a narrow strip of water into the world’s most expensive dare.
Jasim Al-Azzawi
( Middle East Monitor ) – For decades, American military planners have operated on a simple assumption: that overwhelming force, applied decisively, could resolve almost any crisis in the Persian Gulf. Iran, it turns out, has spent years making that assumption obsolete — not by building a navy capable of matching America’s, but by turning a narrow strip of water into the world’s most expensive dare.
210111-A-IY623-1020
STRAIT OF HORMUZ (Jan. 11, 2021) The patrol coastal ship USS Firebolt (PC 10)
transits the Strait of Hormuz, Jan. 11. Firebolt is deployed to the U.S. 5th
Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability
and security in the Central Region, connecting the Mediterranean and Pacific
through the Western Indian Ocean and three critical chokepoints to the free
flow of global commerce. (U.S. Army photo by Specialist Evens Milcette Jr.)
Picryl .