On: US strikes Iran, Tehran hits Gulf states, says Strait of Hormuz closed

July 12, 2026.

So the Strait of Hormuz is closed. The Gulf states burn, and the world’s oil pulse falters. The Americans strike; the Iranians reply. The machinery of escalation grinds forward with the grim predictability of a piston engine whose operator has fallen asleep at the throttle.

I have seen this configuration before. It is not new - only the names and the weapons are different. A great power, impatient with diplomacy, reaches for the sword. A smaller power, cornered, lashes out at the soft underbelly of commerce. And the ordinary people of every nation - the ones who neither declare war nor sign treaties - will pay the price in darkened cities and empty fuel tanks.

The official statements will be polished. They will speak of “proportional responses” and “measured retaliation.” Measured. As though one can measure a fire by the number of buildings it consumes. The closure of a strait is not a signal; it is a strangulation. And strangulation, once begun, is not easily undone.

What astonishes me is not the violence - that is old as the hills - but the failure of imagination. No one in the councils of power appears to have asked what comes after the first blow. They strike, and are surprised that the blow is returned. They close a chokepoint, and are astonished that the world chokes.

I do not despair. Despair is a posture, not a policy. But I am bone-tired of watching the same tragedy performed by actors who believe they are improvising. The only question that matters now is whether we have the nerve to stop the cycle before the entire stage goes up in flames. That question, as yet, has no answer.