Originally Posted by Turbosina

Yup I'll agree with all of that. Which is why the whole notion of "We're going to drop a few bombs, kill some mullahs and change the regime to a friendly one" was so delusional from the start.

Another massive change from "before" to "after" is that before this erupted, Iran never really saw control over the Strait as a realistic strategy for them; they were too afraid of the blowback. Now that they've seized control with nothing more than drones, mines, and speedboats, they have come to realize that control over the Strait gives them almost as much, if not more, leverage than their nuclear program ever did.

You see the location of one of the two ships struck today? Just a couple miles from the Emirati coast, clear across the Gulf from Iranian territory.