Situation Report: Don’t appease Tehran for energy terrorism in the Strait of Hormuz

As of this writing, some four commercial, patrol, and research vessels have been disabled — one of which may have been hijacked — in the main shipping channel through the Strait of Hormuz, apparently as part of an Iranian military operation. If this turns out to be accurate, the Islamic Republic has attempted to use sea mines to close the strait and so to strangle the flow of petroleum to global markets in the most dramatic offensive escalation in this vital shipping way since 1988. The timing of the action is no accident, as last month, Iran announced it would be making its first oil shipment from its new terminal at Jask Port on the Gulf of Oman — its first such facility south of Hormuz. Few took notice at the time, but Tehran was in essence signaling that it no longer needs the strait to supply clients, notably the People’s Republic of China. Now the world will be forced to take notice as the mullahs are foot-stomping this new capability.

So Iran no longer cares about the strait, but quite frankly neither should the United States. We have come a long way since 1980 when President Jimmy Carter declared that it was official U.S. policy that freedom of energy flow from the Persian Gulf was a vital American national-security interest that we were prepared to defend with force. While the resulting Carter Doctrine was undoubtedly the high-water mark of the Carter administration’s national-security policy, we have in recent years established U.S. energy dominance as one of the world’s three largest producers — and of course our production is geographically varied and has access to numerous terminals, none of which are constrained by the Strait of Hormuz. We can and should ramp up domestic production to ameliorate any shortage caused by this attack, while coordinating closely with our partners and allies in the Persian Gulf to counter it.

It’s worth remembering that this is hardly the Iranian regime’s first foray into energy terrorism. In September 2019 the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched an unprecedented drone and missile attack on the world’s largest oil refinery at Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, which was similarly designed to choke shipping and so spike energy prices to the point that the United States would have no choice but to relieve sanctions rather than risk another such disruption. But while the Abqaiq attack was unprecedented in its sophistication and execution, it was also a failure. The rise in prices was relatively modest and quickly dissipated because of an increase in U.S. production, as well as a robust, coordinated, rapid-response repair campaign by Saudi Arabia.

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Victoria Coates

Victoria Coates works on regional issues such as energy policy, countering predatory Chinese activity, expanding the historic Abraham Accords between Israel and Muslim-majority nations, and establishing a U.S.-led Middle East strategic alliance. Coates routinely appears on TV and radio outlets such as Fox News, CNN, OANN, Newsmax, The Hugh Hewitt Show, The Erick Erickson Show, The John Batchelor show, and CSP’s own Secure Freedom Radio. Her writing has appeared in Bloomberg, FoxNews.com, The Jerusalem Post, The New York Post, Newsweek, The National Interest, National Review, The New Criterion, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Examiner, and The Washington Times.

Coates previously served as the Deputy National Security Advisor for the Middle East and North Africa on the National Security Council staff and the Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary of Energy in the Donald J. Trump administration. She also served as the National Security Advisor in the office of Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and as Director of Research for (former) Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s 2011 memoir, Known and Unknown.

Coates holds a B.A. from Trinity College, a M.A. from Williams College, and a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, all in art history. Coates is the author and presenter of dozens of publications and conference papers worldwide on the intersections of art and history, including David’s Sling: A History of Democracy in Ten Works of Art (Encounter Books, 2016) and the forthcoming Seeing the Light: A History of Christianity in Twelve Works of Art (under contract with Encounter Books), which are part of a projected trilogy on the key tenets of Western Civilization: democracy, the Judeo-Christian moral code, and the primacy of the individual.

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Situation Report: Don’t appease Tehran for energy terrorism in the Strait of Hormuz

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