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Man Who Drove Car Into Ditch Asks Friends Who Told Him Not to Do It to Join Him There
The incredibly tepid response to Trump's increasingly panicked requests
mister mix
March 16, 2026
This whole story would be a lot funnier if we weren’t headed for a self-inflicted energy crisis:
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called on the UK, China, France, Japan, South Korea and other countries to send ships to the waterway, the world’s busiest shipping route, which is being violently blockaded by Iran.
In his post, Trump alleged that “many countries, especially those who are affected by Iran’s attempted closure of the Hormuz strait, will be sending war ships, in conjunction with the United States of America, to keep the strait open and safe”.
[…]
However, the international response to Trump’s call for the dispatch of warships has so far proved vague and reluctant, with countries unwilling to commit to a military response that could prove treacherous for their navies.
Tehran has said any oil tanker heading for the US, Israel or its allies is a legitimate target in the war and will be “immediately destroyed”. Sixteen tankers have been attacked in the strait of Hormuz since the war started at the end of February and Iran has threatened to lay explosive mines in the waterway. So far, the US has not sent its own navy ships to escort tankers through the strait.
“Vague and reluctant” is one way to put it. Another would be, “you go first, motherfucker.”
I hate being an “instant expert” on this insane war, but listening to Sal Mercogliano at What’s Going on With Shipping, I’ve learned:
The Strait of Hormuz normally has around 130 transits a day. Recent numbers have been in the low single digits, and maybe a few more ships have snuck through.
Our naval resources are stretched thin. Specifically, we don’t have a lot of extra destroyers. Our program to build frigates (the Constellation Class) is a giant mess that hasn’t yielded ships. We recently decommissioned 4 minesweepers that were in the Gulf. The multi-role Littoral Combat Ship can supposedly do minesweeping, but we may have 1 in the Gulf and two others that were supposed to be in the Gulf are in Malaysia.
It’s pretty damn hard to stop Iran from using drone boats to attack shipping, as well as laying mines.
Even with escorts, the number of ships that will get through the strait will be far fewer than during normal operations.
Even if some of these details are wrong, the basic facts are that a completely self-inflicted crisis that began with a bunch of chest thumping about our awesome power has devolved to a “pretty please help us out” plea, except Trump never says please. And those countries are going to do whatever is in their self interest, and it’s no longer in their self interest to court the US as a partner. We’ve shown that we’re not worth the trouble.
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