Why the world's most powerful navy can't secure a 21-mile gap The Strait of Hormuz is only two shipping lanes wide. But here's the thing...
Iran lined both sides with decades of preparation: naval mines, mobile missile batteries on the coast, swarms of fast-attack boats, and cheap drones that don't show up on radar until it's too late. The U.S. Navy was built to dominate open oceans against conventional fleets. Hormuz is a narrow alley where a speedboat with a missile can hit a destroyer before it has time to react. That's why three weeks in, oil is still stuck and the Pentagon says escorts are "too dangerous."
Iran turned geography into a weapon the U.S. can't outspend.