The United States is currently begging the international community to help "secure" the Strait of Hormuz. Washington is panicked. Wall Street is screaming. The media is hyperventilating about a global energy collapse as crude prices tick toward the stratosphere. They want you to believe that a blocked chokepoint in the Middle East is an existential threat to the American way of life.
They are lying to you. Read more on a similar subject: this related article.
The "crisis" at the Strait of Hormuz isn't a problem to be solved; it is a long-overdue market correction that the U.S. should stop trying to prevent. For decades, the American taxpayer has subsidized global energy stability by acting as a free security guard for a waterway that primarily feeds our economic competitors. By rushing to reopen the Strait, we aren't protecting our interests—we are bailing out the very nations that want to see us fail.
The Global Free Rider Problem
Look at the data on who actually uses that water. China, Japan, and South Korea are the primary beneficiaries of Middle Eastern crude. While the U.S. has spent trillions over forty years maintaining the Fifth Fleet and patrolling these volatile waters, we have achieved "energy independence" (or a close approximation of it) through Permian Basin shale and Canadian imports. More journalism by Forbes explores related perspectives on this issue.
Yet, here we are again. Every time a regional power threatens to drop a few mines in the water, the U.S. State Department goes into a frenzy.
Why are we paying for the security of China’s manufacturing base? If Beijing needs that oil to keep its factories running, let the People’s Liberation Army Navy patrol the Persian Gulf. Let them spend the blood and the billions. By stepping in to "save" the global economy, we are essentially giving a multi-billion dollar annual subsidy to every country that buys oil from the Gulf.
I have watched policy analysts in D.C. argue that "global stability" is worth the cost. It isn’t. Stability is a commodity. If you want it, you should pay for it. The U.S. should pull back, let the price of crude hit $200, and watch as our competitors—who lack our domestic production capacity—scramble to keep the lights on.
The Myth of the Price Shock
The standard argument is that high oil prices kill the American consumer. This is a 1970s mindset stuck in a 2026 reality.
Yes, gas prices go up. Yes, logistics costs rise. But here is the nuance the "consensus" misses: high energy prices are the only thing that actually forces industrial evolution. When oil is cheap, we stay lazy. We keep building inefficient systems. We delay the hard work of retooling our infrastructure.
A sustained period of $150+ oil would do more for American innovation than a thousand government subsidies or green energy tax credits.
- Shale 2.0: High prices make marginal wells in Texas and North Dakota immensely profitable. It triggers a gold rush of private investment into domestic extraction technology that doesn't rely on the whims of a Middle Eastern king.
- Nuclear Acceleration: Nothing clears the regulatory hurdles for Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) faster than a skyrocketing electricity bill.
- Supply Chain Localization: If shipping a plastic toy from Shenzhen costs five times what it did last year because of bunker fuel surcharges, that toy gets made in Mexico or Ohio instead.
We should stop viewing the "surge" as a disaster and start viewing it as a tariff on globalized inefficiency.
The Geography of Irrelevance
The Strait of Hormuz is roughly 21 miles wide at its narrowest point. It is a tactical nightmare. I’ve spoken with naval commanders who admit off-the-record that protecting a slow-moving tanker in those waters against asymmetric drone swarms or sea mines is a losing game.
The U.S. Navy is built for blue-water dominance—fighting in the middle of the ocean. Shoving a multi-billion dollar carrier strike group into a bathtub-sized gulf where they can be targeted by shore-based missiles is tactical malpractice. We are risking our most expensive assets to protect a commodity we don't even need as much as we used to.
If the Strait closes, the world won't end. Saudi Arabia has the East-West Pipeline. The UAE has the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline. These bypass the Strait entirely. The "total blockage" narrative is a bogeyman used to keep the military-industrial complex funded and the diplomatic cables humming.
The Brutal Reality of "International Help"
The U.S. is currently asking for "international help" to reopen the waterway. This is a diplomatic euphemism for "Please give us a tiny bit of cover so we can do all the heavy lifting."
History shows that these "coalitions of the willing" are a joke. In past operations, like the 2019 International Maritime Security Construct, most allies contributed a single frigate or a few staff officers while the U.S. provided 90% of the intelligence, surveillance, and firepower.
We are begging for help from countries that have no intention of helping. They know the U.S. is too addicted to the "Global Policeman" role to actually walk away. They are calling our bluff.
How to Actually "Fix" the Crisis
If the U.S. wanted to act in its own best interest, it would do the following:
- Announce a Date of Withdrawal: Give the world 90 days. Tell every oil-importing nation that after that date, the U.S. Navy will no longer escort commercial tankers in the Strait.
- Deregulate Domestic Production: Instead of releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (a short-term band-aid that solves nothing), eliminate every piece of red tape preventing new refinery construction on the Gulf Coast.
- Weaponize the Price: Recognize that high oil prices hurt our enemies (who import) more than they hurt us (who produce).
The downside? Inflation will hurt. The transition will be messy. People will lose money in the short term. But the long-term result is a United States that is no longer held hostage by the geographical vulnerabilities of a region that hates us.
Stop asking how we can reopen the Strait. Start asking why we are the ones opening it.
The world wants to play chicken with its energy supply? Let them. We have the Permian. We have the tech. We have the geography. It’s time to stop protecting our competitors from the consequences of their own dependence.
Let the Strait stay closed. Let the price hit the moon. And let the rest of the world figure out how to pay the bill.
The era of the free ride is over. Or at least, it should be.
Move your capital out of global logistics and into domestic energy infrastructure. The "crisis" is actually an exit ramp from a forty-year mistake. Take it.
