‘Strait Of Hormuz Standoff Exposes Limits Of US Influence’

The standoff in the Strait of Hormuz is putting US influence to the test as Iran’s control of the strategic waterway continues to disrupt global shipping and raise oil prices, Paul Musgrave, associate professor at Georgetown University in Qatar has said.

Musgrave tells Al Jazeera that the administration of US President Donald Trump has lost much of its leverage in the region.

“I would say that they have torched a good deal of what they had going in… Japan, South Korea, France, and the UK all, at best, are saying they are going to consider possibly sending some ships. That is really a blow to the Trump administration’s belief that America is naturally a leader,” he said.

He added that the US is engaged in the wrong conflict at the wrong moment, without proper planning.

On Iran’s strategy, Musgrave said that the calculations from the Iranians right now seem to be “not who has a bigger bomb or bigger munitions, but who has the highest threshold for pain.”

Tehran has endured severe pressure since the first day of the conflict, including attacks targeting its government. Musgrave said that as long as Iran can keep the Strait of Hormuz closed, it maintains significant leverage over the Gulf, the US, Europe and Israel.