Iran has escalated from attacking military bases, oil tankers, and oil shipping facilities to striking desalination plants that supply water to civilian populations in Persian Gulf countries. They hit a plant in Kuwait yesterday, killing an Indian worker. This escalation is plainly a war crime.
Replacing water production for these desert nations within the short timeframe people can survive without it (a maximum of about three days) would be extraordinarily difficult. Bureaucracies do not move that fast. If global warming, the federal deficit, or Homeland Security funding needed to be fixed within three days, the results would likely be just as chaotic.
It is challenging to weigh President Trump's options regarding Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. A ground invasion of the Iranian littoral and the strategic Persian Gulf islands would likely cost many American lives. Iranian forces hold superior battlefield positions, allowing them to attack downhill with sustained waves of drones and rockets. The time required to sanitize the Strait safely for shipping would be significant. While U.S. military counter-drone technology will improve over time, it will not arrive soon enough to fully protect Persian Gulf allies from ongoing Iranian drone and missile attacks.
A boots-on-the-ground operation in Iran to secure the Strait of Hormuz could also cost Republicans control of the House of Representatives, unless it proves to be a quick and victorious campaign—an improbable outcome for such an invasion.
U.S. troops heading to the region could help defend Persian Gulf allies while supporting efforts to engineer emergency water production—perhaps by transporting desalination equipment or other solutions across the region's deserts. Developing alternative routes to export oil and import water, even as long-term hostilities with Iran continue, may be the least ineffective approach.
Kharg Island and other Iranian oil production facilities could be targeted and razed using air power, such as B-52 strikes. This would deprive Iran's government of critical income from oil and gas sales.
As the world's leading oil producer, the United States could sell large volumes of oil at elevated prices to Europe and Asia while regime change develops in Iran over the course of a year or more. With domestic gasoline prices rising as a result, the Trump administration could take the bold step of offering tax cuts and incentives to electric vehicle producers and buyers, while quantitatively stimulating solar panel and alternative energy production in the United States. This could help attract some environmental voters from the Democratic side and improve Republican chances in the upcoming House and Senate elections.
The American oil industry already stands to reap record profits while Iran continues targeting Persian Gulf oil exports, so they are unlikely to oppose the policy.
"The U.S. Army's "smart pebbles" ground-based Hypervelocity (HPV) weapon is formally known as the Hypervelocity Projectile (HVP), a next-generation, guided, kinetic-energy projectile designed to be fired from conventional 155mm cannons for high-speed missile defense."
Emperor Zelensky is of course targeting Russian oil and gas facilities in order to drive up the cost of oil for Europe (supplying Ukraine with military support) and reduce Russian revenue supplying oil to Europe. He may leverage anti-drone defense experience from Ukraine to offer to help out the Persian Gulf alliance 'in exchange for'... The U.S. should be able to develop its own cloud of anti-drone drones for short term use. TEMU supplies drones for $29.95. Anti-drone defense drones need to be better quality though, and with smarter AI chips. Someday homeowners may buy their own anti-drone drones from TEMU or ebay- such as a Peregrine raptor-predator model, co-piloted with a good AI chip.
Supplying water to the Persian Gulf is the most interesting and vital challenge to find a solution for. It is something to consider. It is hard to believe that with so many years to prep for anti-drone defenses that the U.S.A. wasn't ready to defend against the mass of cheap weapons Iran has stored in hidden, distributed bunkers and basements.
