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Tehran is losing its grip on Hormuz, and with it all its leverage

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12.08.2026

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Tehran is losing its grip on Hormuz, and with it all its leverage

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All the noise around Iran’s supposed stranglehold on oil supplies transiting through the Strait of Hormuz is missing the point.

The reality is that the combination of Operations Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury upended the regime’s hopes of turning Hormuz into a permanent hostage.

Its ruling clerics will now pay the price for activating a blockade without their most important insurance cards — perhaps sooner than they think.

Had the regime in Tehran followed late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s plan — weaponized its nuclear program, built an arsenal of thousands of ballistic missiles and drones and assembled its regional proxies into an even more formidable force — then its blockade of Hormuz would likely be permanent.

That kind of potency would have deterred American and Israeli action and rebuilt Iran’s economy into a formidable global energy power.

Trump calls Iran ‘all talk and no action,’ touts ‘Wall of Steel’ US Navy blockade as more oil flows out of Strait of Hormuz

US fired on Panama-flagged ship that tried to break blockade of Iranian ports: report

Trump responds to Iran’s outlandish demands to reopen Strait of Hormuz with a new red line

Instead, after several months of airstrikes by the US and Israel, Iran’s nuclear and missile programs are badly damaged, and its economy is collapsing from a blockade and sanctions.

Its terrorist........

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