Monday, January 9, 2012

Joint Chiefs Chairman Backs Up My Contention that Iran Can Block Strait of Hormuzl

Last week, I reported that American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Michael Rubin was completely off base in saying that Iran couldn't block the Strait of Hormuz "for more than a day.". I wrote:
...a Naval commander, who teaches "Joint Analysis for the Warfare Commander" at the War College,   states that Iran could mine the Strait and that it would be "tricky" and take "some time" to unblock the Strait. The complete opposite view that Rubin presents.
Rubin's argument that it can't be blocked is simply wrong. Now, we have Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey backing up my view as I presented it. Bloomberg reports:
Iran has the ability to block the Strait of Hormuz “for a period of time,” and the U.S. would take action to reopen it, Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Martin Dempsey said. 
“They’ve invested in capabilities that could, in fact, for a period of time block the Strait of Hormuz,” Dempsey said in an interview aired yesterday on the CBS “Face the Nation” program. “We’ve invested in capabilities to ensure that if that happens, we can defeat that.”
From beginning to end, Rubin's paper is factually wrong, and does nothing but downplay the risks of the U.S. increasing sanctions against Iran.

No one knows exactly how long it would take to re-open a mined Strait. Weeks, if not a month, are most likely. But it is absurd to state that the Strait can't be blocked "for more than a day."

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