Keeping the Strait of Hormuz Open Must Be “Done by Force” | VADM (ret.) Fozzie Miller on NewsNation

Описание: JINSA General & Admirals Program participant VADM (ret.) John "Fozzie" Miller joined NewsNation on April 30 to offer a measured but urgent assessment of the blockade's effectiveness, Iran's remaining military capacity, and the growing pressure to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

VADM (ret.) Miller credited the blockade's core logic while flagging its limitations: "The blockade is being effective because we're keeping Iran from using the sea to conduct trade. That takes money away from the regime. That's good." But he noted a significant downside: other Gulf countries are also unable to export oil, which "is not good," and the blockade has "a time limit to it as well." The central risk, he argued, is that "the Iranians are betting they can hold out longer than the global economy will hold out."

That calculus makes reopening the strait an urgent priority, and Miller was direct about what that will require: "We do need to have the Strait open and it needs to be done by force." But he cautioned against underestimating what Iran still brings to the fight. While the conventional Iranian Navy has been largely neutralized, he warned that "that wasn't the end of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy, which is mostly small boats, and the Strait of Hormuz is a place where they can continue to have a maligned effect." Iran also retains missiles, missile launchers, and drones, meaning "they still do have a capacity to make trouble."

VADM (ret.) Miller argued that the path forward is straightforward in principle if not in execution: "We either need to make it true that they're unable to make trouble or they're unwilling to. One of those two things needs to happen: by negotiation or by additional kinetic action." If it comes to kinetic action, he said missile launchers and drone sites would be the natural focal points. The mission is difficult, he acknowledged, but "not beyond our capability."