Professor Lawrence Brennan provides insight to the Los Angeles Times on the logistics involved with the proposed U.S.-led naval mission being proposed by the Trump administration to protect shipping from Iranian attack.
To protect shipping from Iranian attack, Washington has called on 60 countries to join a U.S.-led naval mission that would organize convoys to escort vessels as they pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which is considered the world’s most important oil transit choke point.
Yet the challenges before such a mission are considerable, said Lawrence Brennan, a professor in maritime law at Fordham University and a former Navy captain who served in the Persian Gulf.
“How do you protect ships in these bodies of water? You need multiple ships, with close proximity, with air support,” said Brennan in a phone interview.
Hormuz’s distance from U.S. naval ports means a transit time of weeks, Brennan added. As well, the force would have to comprise 15 to 20 ships, along with support and replacement ships, with a unified command, communications system, and rules of engagement
“You just don’t have that there,” he said.
Few European countries have signed on to the effort; Germany has outright refused. Israel has said it would provide intelligence to the coalition, spurring a quick condemnation from Iraq, whose foreign minister said in a tweet that “the presence of Western forces in the region will raise tensions.”