Trump’s Hormuz Humiliation

The war with Iran was never likely to be an easy victory. Every American senior officer not insane or a controlled member of the Epstein Syndicate warned against it. The Libertarian Alliance warned repeatedly against it. A war, if it came, was always more likely to be the moment the world discovered that the emperor’s new clothes were, in fact, a clown suit. President Trump’s latest theatrical flourish — “Project Freedom,” the grand humanitarian mission to escort trapped ships out of the Strait of Hormuz — has collapsed before it even began, exposing the United States not as the indispensable superpower but as a paper tiger whose threats no one fears and whose help no one wants.

The plan was ludicrous on every level, and reality has already delivered the verdict. The first American warship sent into the strait was promptly hit with missiles. If the U.S. Navy cannot protect its own vessels, how exactly was it supposed to shepherd giant oil tankers moving at the speed of a bicycle through waters controlled by Iranian fast boats and drones? A real escort convoy would need to be enormous simply to have a chance of survival — yet even then, one rogue drone could turn a single tanker into a bonfire. Once that happens, every crew and every owner on earth would refuse the passage. The resulting oil spill and marine hazard would close the strait for months, perhaps years.

Even if, by some miracle of logistics and luck, such convoys could be assembled without catastrophic losses, they would move at a glacial pace and handle only a handful of ships at a time. That is no answer to the systemic supply-chain collapse already underway. The strait is now operating at barely five percent of its pre-war traffic. Over 800 vessels sit idle in the Gulf. Oil has surged past $100 a barrel. The world’s fertilizer supply — critical for global food production — is bottled up behind a chokepoint guarded by men in small boats with outboard motors. This is not merely an American embarrassment. It is a global disaster.

And the scoreboard is merciless. The war that closed the strait was started by the United States and Israel. The Joint Chiefs’ explicit warning that Iran would close Hormuz if attacked was ignored. NATO allies — Germany, Spain, Italy, Britain, Japan, Australia, South Korea — were asked to join a naval coalition and every single one refused. Germany’s defence minister put it bluntly: “This is not our war. We have not started it.” Mr Trump called their refusal “a very foolish mistake.” Meanwhile, the countries that actually needed their tankers to move — China, India, Turkey, Pakistan, Malaysia — simply picked up the phone and negotiated directly with Tehran. Iran let Malaysian ships through. Indian tankers secured safe passage. China is in active talks for oil-corridor access. They did not call the White House. They called the people who hold the keys.

Yet Mr Trump’s latest Truth Social posturing claims that “countries from all over the world” have begged the United States for help. He named exactly zero of them. He showed not one flag. He mentioned not one head of state. He said just “countries,” and many of them. Trust him. They are apparently in the room with him — somewhere.

Worse, the so-called humanitarian mission comes wrapped in a military threat: “If, in any way, this Humanitarian process is interfered with, that interference will, unfortunately, have to be dealt with forcefully.” It is another protection racket with presidential letterhead. The truth is that Mr Trump has taken to posting pictures of himself holding a pack of Uno cards, declaring that he holds all the cards. In truth he holds only the Joker — and the clown is himself.

There is only one way traffic through the Strait of Hormuz returns to normal: the full, willing cooperation of Iran in peacetime. No amount of bluster, no display of naval theatrics, no catalogue of imaginary coalitions changes that fact. The strait cannot remain closed without guaranteeing overlapping catastrophes of supply, price spikes, and food insecurity that will shake every continent.

Mr Trump has no alternative left. He must stop boasting that he has “won.” He must sit down with the Iranians and negotiate a peace that will, of necessity, be largely on Iranian terms. The alternative is not American strength; it is American irrelevance and global pain. We can only hope that this time the President will not choose to murder the Iranian negotiators at the table. The last time that happened, the consequences are still unfolding. The crazies in Washington and Tel Aviv aside, no one can afford a repeat of that.