Sometimes a refusal to answer is an answer. That was obviously the case with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Tuesday when Sen. Chris Coons asked him a simple question, “What is your plan for reopening the Strait of Hormuz?”
I won’t bore you with all of Whiskey Pete’s rambling replies that sounded more like barstool braggadocio than any kind of serious answer.
Hegseth's long responses included, for example, “From the beginning, we've been very clear about the military objectives and the underlying strategic objective, which is preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon,” meandered to the claim that Iran’s Navy aircraft carriers, “full on destroyers and battleship capabilities” are now gone and “We've degraded almost completely their defense industrial base capabilities.”
Finally, Hegseth claimed, “We control what goes in and out, and we control whether or not we have to restart conflict.” Right before admitting we don’t really. “We’re the ones that will manage where this goes in the future and they have very limited ability to set the tempo or respond to it, and that gives the president a lot of options to ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.”
“My question was, what's the plan for reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic?” Coons pressed.
This time Hegseth pivoted to blaming the Biden administration. Even though, last I checked, the Strait of Hormuz was never closed during Joe Biden’s presidency, only during Donald Trump’s, after he started his unnecessary and unpopular war.
“Previous administration didn't have the willingness to actually do what it would take,” Hegseth huffed. “And when Iran was at its weakest moments following the 12-day war, but still wanted the pursuit of a nuclear capability, President Trump made the courageous decision to go at their conventional umbrella and shield, which they were using to protect their nuclear program…” Blah, blah, blah.
Hegseth concluded with, “We have more leverage than we've ever had. We've had incredible battlefield successes.”
In other words, two months into Trump’s unnecessary, horribly expensive war, before which he was warned Iran would likely close the Strait of Hormuz in response, neither Whiskey Pete nor Commander Bone Spurs Trump has a plan to reopen it.
Got it.
