US Blitzes Iran for a Fifth Day as the World’s Most Vital Oil Chokepoint Grinds to a Halt

The United States carried out a fifth consecutive day of strikes against Iran on Thursday, hitting an oil tanker near Iran’s main export terminal as part of an intensifying campaign to force Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping. President Donald Trump said the strikes would continue until Iran stops attacking vessels in the strait and allows the waterway to reopen [1]. Iran responded by firing on American military installations in Kuwait and Jordan; Kuwait’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses intercepted 32 drones since dawn Thursday, with debris from the interceptions falling in residential areas, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed responsibility for strikes on U.S. military sites in the Gulf [2]. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said one of its tankers, the Al Rekayyat, was targeted in an “unacceptable attack” on international navigation, and said it holds Iran “fully legally responsible” [3]. Commercial traffic through the strait has collapsed to just three vessels transiting in the past 24 hours, according to open-source tracking data, and oil prices are now roughly 9 percent higher than before the U.S. and Israel launched their initial strikes on Iran in late February [4].

Why It Sucks:

Conservatives

• Restraint just invited more attacks. Conservatives argue that years of hesitation let Iran treat the Strait of Hormuz as a weapon against global commerce, and that only sustained strikes on tankers and military capability will force Tehran to back down [1].
• Protecting a fifth of world oil flow is worth it. With shipping traffic reduced to a handful of vessels a day, supporters of the campaign say degrading Iran’s ability to threaten tankers is a matter of global economic security, not optional overreach [4].
• Iran started the shooting war. Backers of the strikes point to Iran firing drones at Kuwait and missiles reportedly aimed at Jordan as proof that the U.S. is responding to aggression, not initiating it [2].

Progressives

• Another war, still no vote from Congress. Progressives and antiwar voices argue that a fifth straight day of U.S. strikes on a sovereign country has unfolded without formal congressional authorization, repeating a pattern they say has bypassed democratic checks on presidential war powers for decades [1].
• Escalation is the plan, not the exception. Critics on the left warn that “one more round of strikes” has become the default policy, with no articulated off-ramp beyond Iran’s total capitulation, raising fears of an open-ended regional war [1].
• Civilians in three countries are absorbing the fallout. Progressives note that drone interceptions raining debris on Kuwaiti neighborhoods and strikes near Jordan show ordinary people bearing the physical risk of a conflict they had no say in starting [2].

Gulf Shipping Industry & Regional Governments

• Caught in a fight that isn’t theirs. Kuwait and Qatar are absorbing drone strikes and tanker attacks despite being bystanders to the underlying U.S.-Iran conflict, with Qatar explicitly condemning the targeting of its tanker as an attack on “international navigation and global energy security” [3].
• The strait’s near-shutdown is an economic gut punch. With just three ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz in 24 hours, Gulf oil producers are watching a critical revenue artery choke off regardless of who wins the underlying military exchange [4].
• Interceptions are landing on their own soil. Kuwait’s air defenses shooting down 32 drones in a single morning, with debris falling in residential areas, means regional governments are managing a live physical threat to their own civilians on top of the economic damage [2].

Sources & Citations:

[1] NPR: U.S. fires a new wave of strikes on Iran and hits a tanker trying to skirt its blockade
[2] Al Jazeera: US attacks Iran as IRGC claims strikes on US military sites in Gulf
[3] CNN: Qatar, Kuwait fend off fresh attacks, US continues Iran strikes
[4] Bloomberg: Iran-US Strikes Worsen as Strait of Hormuz Shipping Traffic Dwindles