The Strait of Hormuz does not usually feature in domestic political anxiety. It is a narrow stretch of water, distant and abstract to most voters. Yet when oil prices spike and markets shudder, its importance becomes brutally clear — and suddenly, so does the cost of getting strategy wrong.
In recent days, Donald Trump's handling of the crisis there has felt less like a coherent plan and more like a series of improvised reactions, stitched together under pressure. The effect is jarring. One moment, he is hinting at winding down the war with Iran; hours later, he is threatening to 'obliterate' the country's power plants if the strait is not reopened within 48 hours.
