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Iran's strongest weapon - Video học tiếng Anh
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Iran's strongest weapon
Iran's strongest weapon
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Since the US and Israel launched strikes
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on Iran in February, the Straight of
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Hormuz has become the flash point of the
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regional conflict in the Middle East.
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President Trump today repeated his
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demand for Iran to reopen the Strait of
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Hormuz.
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>> A whole civilization could die tonight
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unless Iran agrees to reopen the
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critical strait of Hermuz. Back in 2019,
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we actually published a video piece that
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explained why this narrow strip of
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waterway has been at the center of
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tensions between the US and Iran for
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years. It ended with this line. Each
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run-in has the risk of escalating into
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war, one that could disrupt the jugular
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of the global economy in the process.
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>> Now that war is here. Thousands have
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been killed and millions of lives
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disrupted as violence has exploded
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across the region. All of us on the
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planet are directly tied to the straight
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of war moves through inflation, through
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transport prices, through any imports we
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get. Um, and also through our food
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chain. So, let's revisit the straight of
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Hormuz to explain why the strip of water
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has become Iran's most effective weapon
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to inflict pain on the global economy
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and take control of the war.
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20% of the world's crude oil flows
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through the Strait of Hormuz. A lot of
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it goes to Asia, but the drop in global
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supply during the strait's closure has
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driven up the price of oil to over $100
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a barrel at its peak, up from about $70
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a barrel before the war. In the US, that
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means that the national average price of
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gas has spiked to over $4 a gallon. But
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it's not just oil that moves through the
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straight of Hormuz. closing the straight
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has just cut off a major source of
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supply of uh you know natural resources.
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So energy resources and and uh you know
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fertilizer and and and metals and you
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know sulfur other products uh you know
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helium gas that uh that the global
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economy desperately needs
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>> and there is still no clear path to
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reopening it. Iran can't realistically
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compete with the US and Israel in a
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direct military confrontation. So their
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strongest weapon is control over the
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straight of Hormuz.
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>> The straight of Hormuz was shockingly
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easy to close. So the start of the war
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uh caused insurance insurance companies
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to put a hold on insurance for ships
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moving into the the Persian Gulf through
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the straight of Hormuz. you had this
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sort of steady pace of uh you know sort
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of drum beatat of attacks on ships and
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that's been enough to keep the straight
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all but closed to to ships that don't
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have Iran's permission to travel
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through.
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>> Trump knows that the US and its allies
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are feeling the pain and he has swung
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between different strategies and demands
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to reopen the straight.
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>> He put out this statement saying if Iran
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doesn't open it immediately we're going
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to bomb oil plants, desalination plants.
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etc., etc. And today he's saying really
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the exact opposite, that we don't need
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the straight open. It's not our problem.
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>> But Iran seems intent on continuing to
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use the straight of Hormuz as a high
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value bargaining chip.
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>> They seem to be hanging on to control
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over the Straight of Hormuz, which in,
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you know, in the short run, uh, is is a
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major win for them. Oil exports are
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actually higher now than they've been in
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a couple of years. for a lot of those
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exports, Iran will uh get, you know,
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really high price. All that adds up to
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is to a big increase in in in oil
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revenues for Iran. The longer the US
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holds out, the longer it will shoulder
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the blame for starving the global
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economy of essential items.
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>> Nobody knows where Iran's, you know,
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inflection point lies. It's been
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a remarkable amount of pain that Iran
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has been able to withstand. keeping the
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straight closed, kind of keeping the
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pressure on the global economy to
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indirectly pressure the United States.
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I'd say Iran's been remarkably
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successful in this.
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>> Trump's threats to destroy civilian
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infrastructure if Iran doesn't
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permanently reopen the strait might also
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not be as effective as he thinks they
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are. There is very little the US can do
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uh you know short of a fullscale
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invasion of the country uh to keep that
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straight open against uh Iranian
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political wishes.
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>> Opening the straight wasn't the main US
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objective when the war started. It was
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already open. But now that it is closed,
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Iran can put pressure on the US to back
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off its stated goals like dismantling or
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restricting Iran's nuclear program. That
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could make things tough for Trump as he
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negotiates over the strait. The
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president needs an off-ramp for the war
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in Iran as casualties mount and its
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unpopularity drags down his approval
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ratings in a crucial midterm election
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year. The US seems to be uh you know
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looking really fairly desperately for
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ways to extract itself from this. The
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lowest acceptable solution is just to
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reopen the straight and get some kind of
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Iranian agreement to allow ships through
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there. However this ends, Iran has
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proven how essential this waterway is to
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the well-being of the global economy and
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how many losses they're willing to
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endure just to keep it under their
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control.
