The Wall Street Journal has an article which stresses that the blockade will be “compounding the global economic damage [already] caused by the conflict.” “It’s certainly well within the capacity of the forces that are there to mount a blockade,” said Bryan Clark, a retired naval officer and senior researcher at the Hudson Institute, who is cited as one of a number of analysts who agree. “Now, if Iran starts shooting at them or shooting at people that are operating these systems, then obviously it gets more difficult…. You have to protect them with ships.” The Journal adds: “The prospect of such a blockade could set off a high-stakes battle that tests which side has the higher threshold for pain—Tehran or global markets.”
The paper goes on: “The paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps still maintains much of its extensive fleet of more nimble speedboats that it uses to control the strait.” More than 60% of those fast-attack craft and speedboat vessels remain intact and continue to pose a threat, according to Farzin Nadimi, an Iran-focused senior fellow with the Washington Institute, a U.S.-based think-tank.
At the same time, [[OilPrice.com](OilPrice.com)](https://oilprice.com/) news website reported](https://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/LNG-Shock-Hits-Supply-Chains-as-War-Disrupts-Global-Flows.html) that the war has “triggered a global LNG supply chain crisis, flipping markets from expected oversupply to shortages and driving prices up ~80%.
“Damage to Qatar’s LNG infrastructure and export disruptions have shaken confidence in supply reliability and could take years to fully recover.
“High prices are already destroying demand, with Asian buyers cutting imports and even shifting back to coal, raising concerns about LNG’s future growth.”
