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According to a report from the Institute for Energy Research, the United States has 1.4 trillion barrels of recoverable reserves of oil — or more than the entire world has used in 150 years. That’s enough to fuel the United States for the next 250 years. Natural gas and coal resources are in even greater abundance. Energy independence could really and truly be as easy as 1-2-3.
If the Straits are closed for more than a few weeks, worldwide reecession is guaranteed. If Iran did try to blockade the strait, it would be no match for a U.S. fleet accompanied by the Combined Maritime Force protecting Gulf shipping that also includes countries such as Britain, France, Canada, Australia and the Gulf Arab states, under the command of a U.S. admiral.
Iran has been investing for decades now on creating a naval guerrilla force which would have the capability of at least interfering with shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and perhaps closing it, at least temporarily, using a combination of mines, small boats, antiship cruise missiles, submarines, both midget submarines as well as conventional submarines, and most recently ballistic missiles.
But once the United States Navy gets involved in ensuring freedom of navigation, I think it's very clear what the outcome will be, eventually, the destruction of the Iranian Navy and the reopening of the strait.
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