A Complex Operation.
The “Cicada” variant.
“Succinct and smart…News Items boils it down like no other newsletter.” — Tom Freston, Firefly3 LLC and author of “Unplugged - Adventures from MTV to Timbuktu”.
1. The Wall Street Journal:
President Trump told aides he’s willing to end the U.S. military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed, administration officials said, likely extending Tehran’s firm grip on the waterway and leaving a complex operation to reopen it for a later date.
In recent days, Trump and his aides assessed that a mission to pry open the chokepoint would push the conflict beyond his timeline of four to six weeks. He decided that the U.S. should achieve its main goals of hobbling Iran’s navy and its missile stocks and wind down current hostilities while pressuring Tehran diplomatically to resume the free flow of trade. If that fails, Washington would press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead on reopening the strait, the officials said.
There are also military options the president could decide on, but they are not his immediate priority, they said. (Source: wsj.com. Ed. Note: A story like this is always very well-sourced. )
2. Gideon Rachman:
(W)estern military planners are very pessimistic about the chances of reopening the strait by military means alone. The geography of the area and the technology available to Iran — including drones that can be operated many miles from the shoreline — mean that even naval escorts cannot guarantee the safety of commercial traffic.
