Winston Churchill may never actually have said that “Americans can always be trusted to do the right thing, once all other possibilities have been exhausted.” But the aphorism has stuck in public memory for a reason. Its logic appears to apply perfectly to the Donald Trump administration’s attitude toward Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where at last the United States appears to be in the beginning stages of forcing things open. Intense Iranian retaliation on Monday, including strikes on the United Arab Emirates and attacks targeting the U.S. Navy and shipping in the strait, suggests that this effort may come at the cost of ending the tenuous ceasefire in place since April 7. But it will be worth it—the current stalemate was economically untenable in the long run.
On Sunday, President Trump announced that the United States will “guide” the ships of other countries trapped in the Persian Gulf out via the strait. He dubbed the exercise “Project Freedom”—not an “operation,” mind you, but a “project”—language designed to avoid trouble with Congress and the War Power Resolution’s 60-day clock.
