Furl the Sail and Strike the Sea
It was February 28, 2026, when the US and Israel attacked Iran despite reports that negotiations between Iran and the US were on track and an agreement was close. This war, lacking *Jus ad Bellum*, began with a strike on a girls’ school in Minab, in southern Iran, where around 168 young girls were killed. US authorities have failed to ascertain who carried out the attack. A hospital in Tehran was subsequently targeted. During the last fifteen days, more than one hundred civilian infrastructures have been targeted across Iran, resulting in more than fourteen hundred casualties. The war thus also lacks *Jus in Bello*. In retaliation, Iran has targeted US interests in the region alongside Israel.
One important aspect of this ongoing war is Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s geography affords it dominance over the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, through which twenty percent of the world’s energy resources and around twelve percent of global trade pass. While China receives around eighty percent of the oil and gas crossing the Strait of Hormuz, thirty percent of its oil and gas needs are fulfilled from the Middle East, with thirteen percent coming from Iran. Apparently, the US has entered this region without adequate preparation but certainly not without an objective, especially at the strategic level. The US National Security Strategy promulgated in November 2025 outlines one of its core foreign policy interests as preventing an........
