Iran decided to announce that it controls the Strait of Hormuz, one of the most critical shipping lanes on planet Earth. CENTCOM responded with what can only be described as a diplomatic fact check with military backing, and it was glorious.
Here is how we got here. On Saturday, July 11, Iranian forces attacked the Cyprus-flagged container ship M/V GFS Galaxy as it transited the Strait of Hormuz. The vessel suffered significant engine room damage and caught fire, leaving it dead in the water. One civilian crew member, an Indian national, was reported missing after the attack. So Iran decided to shoot at a commercial ship carrying cargo and then turn around and claim ownership of the entire waterway. Bold strategy.
The United States responded by launching a third round of strikes this week against Iranian targets, as Trending Politics reported. These strikes, ordered by the Commander in Chief, targeted IRGC positions, missile systems, air defenses, fast attack boats, radars, and related facilities on Qeshm Island and near Bandar Abbas. Basically, if it could threaten a ship, it got hit.
Then Iran, apparently unfazed by having its military hardware rearranged, declared the strait closed to vessel traffic. The IRGC claimed no foreign vessel could pass without being "identified, tracked, and monitored" by Iranian forces. Which is a fascinating thing to declare right after your monitoring equipment got turned into scrap metal.
CENTCOM was not having it. They posted a response on social media that read like a teacher correcting a student who confidently wrote the wrong answer on the board.
"CLAIM: The Iranian commander for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Navy recently said on state-owned media that no foreign vessels may pass through the Strait of Hormuz without being identified, tracked, and monitored by Iranian forces. FACT: Iran does not control the Strait of Hormuz. It remains an international waterway. U.S. forces are positioned and prepared to keep it that way."
A follow up statement added: "The Strait of Hormuz is open to all vessels seeking to lawfully transit the international waterway. U.S. forces are positioned and prepared to ensure that freedom of navigation remains available despite unwarranted Iranian aggression, harassment, threats, and arbitrary declarations. Iran does not control the strait. Traffic is flowing."
For context on just how much traffic we are talking about, CENTCOM noted that since early May, U.S. forces helped facilitate the transit of more than 800 commercial vessels and 380 million barrels of crude oil through the strait. That is not a waterway you get to claim by posting about it on state media.
Iran saying it controls the Strait of Hormuz is like your neighbor declaring they own the public road in front of your house. You can say it all you want, but the moment you try to enforce it, you are going to have a very bad day. And based on those three rounds of strikes, that bad day has already started.
Read more breaking news stories at: Trending Politics News
