US and Iran Trade Blows for a 10th Straight Night as Jordan Shoots Down Iranian Missiles

Jordan’s military said Tuesday it intercepted three missiles and five drones launched from Iran, all destroyed before impact, in an attack announced through the state-run Petra news agency; no casualties or damage were reported [1]. The exchange came as the United States carried out its 10th consecutive night of strikes on Iran, with U.S. Central Command saying it targeted Iranian military command centers, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and air defense systems meant to “further degrade” Tehran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz [2]. The escalation follows the collapse of a ceasefire deal over control of the strait, and comes just a day after Greek shipping company Dynacom Tankers reported two of its managed vessels, the Kavomaleas and the Acheloos, were struck by projectiles off the coast of Oman, sparking a fire and forcing an evacuation [3, 4]. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for roughly a fifth of global oil supply, has slowed to a crawl as the fighting drags into its third week [2].

Why It Sucks:

Conservatives

• Deterrence requires follow-through. Conservatives argue that a decade of half-measures against Iran is exactly what invited this, and that sustained strikes on command centers and launch sites are the only language Tehran understands [2].
• Jordan proves the threat is real. An American ally just had eight projectiles fired at it in a single day, which conservatives say vindicates warnings that Iran will keep testing regional borders unless it’s made to pay a real price [1].
• Global shipping needs a policeman. With commercial tankers now routinely getting hit, conservatives contend walking away from the Strait of Hormuz would hand Iran a stranglehold on a fifth of the world’s oil [2, 3].

Progressives

• This is an undeclared war creeping wider. Progressives warn that ten straight nights of American airstrikes with no congressional war authorization is exactly the kind of executive overreach that drags the country into another open-ended Middle East conflict [2].
• Civilians pay for great-power brinkmanship. Each new round of strikes and counter-strikes raises the odds of miscalculation, and progressives note the people actually dying are tanker crews and conscripts, not policymakers [3, 4].
• No exit strategy in sight. A collapsed ceasefire followed by an open-ended bombing campaign is precisely the pattern progressives say leads to permanent, mission-creeping deployments [2].

Gulf Shipping Nations and Global Oil Markets

• Jordan didn’t start this fight. A U.S. ally with no direct role in the Hormuz standoff is now absorbing missile and drone barrages simply for hosting American forces [1].
• Tankers are burning over a war they’re not party to. Crews on the Kavomaleas and Acheloos were caught in the crossfire of a U.S.-Iran conflict that has nothing to do with the cargo they were hauling [3, 4].
• Every consumer eats the cost. With traffic through the strait grinding to a halt, energy importers and everyday drivers worldwide face higher prices for a fight playing out thousands of miles from most of their homes [2].

Sources & Citations:

[1] AP: Jordan targeted by Iranian drones
[2] Fox News: Trump weighs Iran war expansion as fresh US strikes target Hormuz shipping threats
[3] gCaptain: Dynacom Reports Two Tankers Attacked Near Strait of Hormuz
[4] The Jerusalem Post: Greek oil tankers struck by unknown projectiles in Strait of Hormuz