On Tuesday, Yahoo News posted a Reuters post about recent attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. I don’t think Iran is behaving very well, and I think it’s time for Iran to be held accountable for its bad behavior.
The article reports:
Three tankers were hit in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, including an LNG carrier at risk of explosion, as huge crowds mourned Iran’s slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in the holy city of Qom.
Qatar blamed Iran for the attack on a huge Qatari liquefied natural gas tanker, the Al Rekayyat, which reported being struck overnight by a drone that caused a fire in its engine room.
The crew were safe and being evacuated, but maritime security sources told Reuters the fire could put the ship at risk of explosion.
A Saudi-flagged crude oil tanker, believed to be the supertanker Wedyan, was also damaged off Oman, maritime security sources said. The cause was not immediately clear.
The article concludes:
In a CNN interview, Netanyahu said it was too early to say how negotiations with Tehran will play out, but hinted at a continuing divergence with the White House over whether diplomacy can ultimately neutralize Iran’s nuclear program.
“The President believes that he can stop Iran’s nuclear program,” Netanyahu told CNN, adding that he has his doubts.
Nevertheless, Trump should be “given the chance” to achieve that goal, Netanyahu added, insisting the two governments were aligned on Iran strategy. “On the big things we see eye to eye, and occasionally we don’t, but we’re true allies,” he said.
Oil prices, which have returned to around the prewar level since last month’s interim deal, rose more than 2% on Tuesday following the incidents in the waterway.
In launching the war four months ago, Trump said his aims were to destroy Iran’s nuclear and missile programmes, end its ability to threaten its neighbours and create conditions for Iranians to topple their leaders.
None of those goals has been met, although Washington says a permanent deal will halt what it says is an Iranian programme that could make a nuclear bomb, which Iran says it never sought.
At some point you have to stop negotiating with the neighborhood bully and simply punch him in the face!
UPDATE: I think President Trump has run out of patience.