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One of the problems with Trump is that by making his statements bombastic in nature he sacrifices clarity.
Regarding the closing of the Strait of Hormuz he said, “I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island. However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.”
“Reconsider this decision” does do lay out clear boundaries and consequences. Something like, “Iran must irrevocably and clearly declare the Strait of Hormuz open and that they will in no way interfere with shipping within 48 hours. If they do not make such a declaration we will start to dismantle their oil infrastructure and capacity on Kharg Island.”
More recently Iran bombed Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG export facilities. Trump threatened Iran saying that the United States would “massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field which is the portion that lies within Iran and supplies about 80% of Iran’s natural gas. This threat is after Iran’s attack on Qatar which sidelined about 12.8 million tons of LNG production annually and will take three to five years to repair.
Trump should have clearly stated many weeks ago that attacks on Arab nations by Iran will not be tolerated and will trigger retaliatory strikes against Iranian oil infrastructure. Not the military targets that they have been focusing on but the infrastructure that provides a massive amount of revenue to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
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