US Hits Iran with 90-Target Barrage as Interim Ceasefire Disintegrates

Great-power tussles over Hormuz echo the 1987-88 “Tanker War,” when US escorts and Operation Praying Mantis hit Iranian assets after mining incidents; then, too, shipping became leverage in wider geopolitical bargaining. Today’s exchange fits a longer arc: since the 1973 oil shock, Gulf chokepoints have been arenas where US hard power underwrites commercial flows while regional actors probe, stall or reshape that order—think of the 2011 Arab Spring piracy spikes or the 2019 limpet-mine incidents. This week’s flare-up signals Iran’s growing capacity—and willingness—to impose real costs on a superpower, even as Washington still wields overwhelming strike capability. Over a century horizon, whether outside navies can guarantee open sea-lanes against a determined regional power will shape not just oil logistics but the credibility of the post-1945 US security architecture; if Iran maintains even partial control of Hormuz, it may mark the first durable erosion of that system since Britain’s 1971 Gulf withdrawal.