Iran’s Chokehold on Hormuz Strait Has White House on Defensive

President Donald Trump has warned Iran that it “better stop” any effort to charge fees on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, after agreeing to open the critical waterway as part of a ceasefire agreement earlier this week.

But for weeks, US allies, military analysts, and skeptics of the president’s strategy have been asking how Iran was allowed to seize and maintain control of the passage in the first place — and why, given the might of the US military, the Trump administration didn’t reopen the strait by force.