When President Trump isn’t threatening to make the Strait of Hormuz a U.S. territory, his administration is demanding that the strait revert to being a free international passageway for the world’s oil supply. The president needs to face reality: Neither of these things is going to happen. The strait needs to be reopened, even if that means Iran tolls transit through it.
This outcome would be a defeat for the United States. But, at this point, it is the least bad option.
The war with Iran has revealed two things: Iran cannot completely close the Strait of Hormuz, and the United States cannot completely open it. Despite months of pummeling from American bombs and missiles, Tehran has shown it can still discourage tanker traffic in the strait, through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply transited before Mr. Trump attacked Iran in February.
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