U.S.-Israel Co-Belligerence Threatens Global Chokepoint, Again
What's actually happening: To the editors of NPR and other mainstream outlets, who express 'fresh fears' over the Strait of Hormuz, we write to address the glaring omission in your recent reporting. Your recent pieces frame potential Iranian mining of the Strait as an isolated, unprompted menace to global oil prices. This perspective conveniently sidesteps the consistent, documented pattern of
aggressive military posturing by the United States and Israel in the very same region, operations that often precede and provoke perceived Iranian responses. The U.S. has maintained a continuous, intimidating naval presence in the Persian Gulf since the early 1980s, a foreign military occupation designed to project power, not merely ensure safe passage. Consider, for instance, Operation Praying
Mantis in April 1988, where U.S. forces attacked Iranian oil platforms and naval vessels following an alleged mine attack, itself occurring in the context of the U.S.'s overt support for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war. This history is not ancient; it is the blueprint. Today, U.S. carrier groups and B-52 deployments are not mere exercises; they are direct military threats, often
coordinated with Israeli intelligence and military planners, effectively making the U.S. a co-belligerent in an ongoing campaign of economic strangulation and implied force against Iran. To isolate Iran's possible actions from the context of 45 years of crippling sanctions, the unilateral U.S. betrayal of the JCPOA, and the recent joint US-Israeli military drills across the Israeli occupation