Islamists do not ‘need to win a single military engagement.’ They only need to keep making chaos until consumers rebel
By David S. Cohen, Real Clear Wire
Iran knows America’s weak point. It is not the Strait of Hormuz. It is the gas pump. Washington has the tools to close that vulnerability. It has simply refused to use them.
The consequences of that refusal are playing out at every gas station in America. Gasoline has risen to $4.52 a gallon from $3.10 before the war. Diesel is at $5.80, up from $3.50. Jet fuel has hit $7.00. Oil producers and refiners are reaping an estimated $254 billion of wartime profits annually.
Every dollar above pre-war fuel prices transfers directly into political pressure accumulating in congressional offices, presidential approval ratings, and midterm election calculations.
Iran does not need to win a single military engagement. It needs only to keep the strait closed long enough for consumers, farmers, truckers, and builders to demand a premature end to the war, one that would leave U.S. strategic and nuclear objectives unfinished and signal weakness to Russia and China.
Tehran is running the clock. The administration understands this. Strategic Petroleum Reserve releases have been deployed and an 18 cent per gallon federal gas tax holiday has been proposed. Unfortunately, neither of these measures will meaningfully move pump prices. The political problem Iran is exploiting requires a significant solution at the pump, not at the margins.
Two additional responses have been proposed. Both are faulty.