Conrad Black: With Iran war, Trump boxes China in

2026-03-28 - 10:10

The Iran war was unleashed so suddenly and has proceeded so swiftly that some of its principal objectives and consequences have scarcely been noticed. A few commentators have recognized the pattern of the Trump administration's removal of Venezuela and soon Cuba and by the actions of Israel, Syria, as well as Iran, as Russo-Chinese allies. But the real background to the status of the Strait of Hormuz as a conduit for 20 per cent of the world's oil exports has not been seriously publicly explored. There is no doubt that the United States could force the Strait open and it has substantially prepared to do that by obliterating the missile firing capability on the southern Iranian coast and by severely reducing the number of potential interoceptive Iranian warships and swift boats. Read More