U.S.- Iran war: Strait of Hormuz puzzle for Donald Trump remains unsolved. Why is Strait of Hormuz Difficult to secure?

Iran shut down the Strait of Hormuz for a few hours ‌on ⁠Tuesday, Iranian ⁠state media reported, without making clear whether the waterway, one of the world's most vital ⁠oil export ‌routes, had fully ⁠reopened. This came after U.S. President Donald Trump had renewed his call for other nations to help secure ‌the ⁠Strait ⁠of Hormuz and said the United States will coordinate with them amid the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.

Earlier, Iranian state media had ​reported that the ​Strait of Hormuz would be partially shut for a ‌few hours on Tuesday ​due to "security ​precautions" ⁠for shipping safety while Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards ​conducted military drills there.

Why is Strait of Hormuz Difficult to Secure?


The Strait of Hormuz is a difficult stretch of water to defend. Shipping lanes are just two nautical miles wide and ships must make a turn opposite Iranian islands and a mountainous coast that provides cover for Iranian forces, according to shipping broker SSY Global.

Iran's conventional navy has largely been destroyed but the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps still has plenty of weapons in its arsenal to cause damage, including fast attack crafts, uncrewed surface vessels, speedboats, mini submarines, mines and even jet skis packed with explosives, said Tom Sharpe, a retired Royal Navy commander.

Tehran has the capacity to produce around 10,000 drones a month, according to the Centre for Information Resilience, a non-profit research group.

Escorting three or four ships a day through the strait would be feasible in the short-term using seven or ‌eight destroyers providing air cover, and would depend on whether the risk from mini submarines has been reduced, but doing so sustainably for months would require more resources, Sharpe said.

Even if Iran's capacity to deploy ballistic missiles, drones and floating mines were destroyed, ships would still face a threat from suicide operations, said Adel Bakawan, Director ​of the European Institute for Middle ​East and North African Studies.