Don't Put U.S. Sailors and Marines on Commercial Ships

It would be a misuse of U.S. resources and manpower at a time when the U.S. already has too many of its forces in the Middle East.

The Associated Press reports on a truly terrible idea that the Biden administration is considering:

The U.S. military is considering putting armed personnel on commercial ships traveling through the Strait of Hormuz, in what would be an unheard of action aimed at stopping Iran from seizing and harassing civilian vessels, five American officials told The Associated Press on Thursday.

It would be a serious mistake to put U.S. military personnel on these vessels. The assumption that the presence of Americans on these ships would discourage Iran from seizing them is probably wrong. It is possible that the presence of small detachments of U.S. personnel would invite challenges and make the ships more of a target than they would be otherwise. In any case, it would put those Americans at risk of being injured, captured, or killed for the sake of protecting ships that their own governments or the governments of regional states ought to be safeguarding.

It would be a misuse of U.S. resources and manpower at a time when the U.S. already has too many of its forces in the Middle East. It makes no sense to court armed confrontations between U.S. and Iranian forces when the U.S. cannot afford a new conflict in the region. In the event of a clash, it would be difficult to avoid back-and-forth reprisals, and with each reprisal there would be increased risk of casualties and further escalation.

As the report notes, even during the “Tanker War” in the late 1980s the U.S. did not put its sailors and Marines on commercial ships. It’s a bizarre notion designed to rope the U.S. into taking on even more commitments in the Persian Gulf when the U.S. ought to be extricating itself from the region as much as possible. Even if it doesn’t lead to direct conflict with Iran, it would take the U.S. in the wrong direction.

It is worth remembering that Iran has been seizing tankers from time to time as part of their response to the ongoing economic war waged against them by the U.S. That doesn’t excuse the seizures, but it should make us understand that they are among the consequences of a bankrupt “maximum pressure” campaign that remains in place. If the U.S. wants Iran to seize fewer tankers, it has a better chance of achieving this with less risk by lifting Trump-era sanctions that should never have been imposed or reimposed. If the U.S. really wants to safeguard free commerce in the Persian Gulf, it could start by getting rid of the absurd sanctions aimed at throttling Iranian oil exports.

According to another report by The Washington Post, the idea has support from top Biden administration officials. According to one official cited by the Post, the “policy decision has pretty much been made.” Congress should demand answers from the Biden administration about this policy, which puts the U.S. and Iran on a collision course without the input or approval of the American people or our representatives.