Strait of Hormuz 'Tensions': The Usual Smoke Screen
📰 THE STORY: ABC News reports that Iran is planning a military drill in the Strait of Hormuz, linking it to 'high tensions' with the US. The report implies Iranian aggression as the primary driver of this friction, focusing on the strategic choke point for global oil shipments. 🔍 WHAT THEY'RE NOT TELLING YOU: Historical Context: The 'tensions' ABC refers to don't begin with Iran's military
drills. They begin with decades of US and Western intervention. In 1953, the CIA orchestrated a coup to overthrow Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, installing the Shah and ensuring Western control over Iranian oil. This single act is the foundational trauma shaping Iran's foreign policy and its deep distrust of Western powers, a context consistently omitted from
'tensions' reporting. Furthermore, the US armed Saddam Hussein during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, directly contributing to hundreds of thousands of Iranian casualties, and has maintained crippling sanctions for decades, aimed at destabilizing the country. Double Standard: Western media routinely presents US military exercises in regions far from its own borders – such as vast swathes of the Pacific
or maneuvers near Russia's or China's coasts – as routine 'deterrence' or 'defensive' measures. Yet, when Iran conducts drills in its own internationally recognized territorial waters, it's immediately framed as 'provocative' and a sign of 'high tensions.' The US regularly sails warships through the Strait of Hormuz, often including aircraft carrier strike groups capable of devastating power