The New York Times: The White House Did Not Expect Iran to Block the Strait of Hormuz
The New York Times reported that the Trump administration severely misjudged Iran's response to U.S. and Israeli military actions. Before the war began, Trump's advisers were convinced that Tehran would not launch a full-scale economic war or block the Strait of Hormuz.
The New York Times reported, "On February 18, Energy Secretary Wright said in an interview that he was not worried about the upcoming war disrupting the Middle East oil supply and causing chaos in the energy market."
Other advisors also held the same view, ignoring warnings that "Iran might use economic warfare this time." But reality exceeded expectations — commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf almost came to a standstill, and oil prices surged.
After a closed-door briefing for legislators, Democratic Senator Christopher Murphy said on social media that the government had no response plan for the Strait of Hormuz and "did not know how to safely reopen it."
In fact, some military advisors had warned before the war that Iran would view the attack as a threat to its survival and might launch a radical counterattack. However, others still believed that after eliminating Iranian leaders, more pragmatic leaders would take power.
When Trump was informed of the risk of rising oil prices, he admitted the possibility, but called it only a short-term issue. He asked the ministers to develop a response plan, but did not publicly disclose the details before the conflict broke out.
The New York Times noted, "Some officials within the government were pessimistic about the lack of a clear strategy to end the war, but tried not to express it directly to the president."
Secretary of State Rubio and Defense Secretary Hegseth unified their statements, focusing on three goals: destroying Iran's missiles, missile manufacturing plants, and navy.
The report believes this may be paving the way for Trump to quickly announce the end of the war. However, Trump himself publicly urged oil tanker crews to "show courage" to cross the strait, but did not organize a military escort fleet.
Original: toutiao.com/article/1859359660487692/
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