One year ago today, the United States and the Houthis agreed to stop shooting at each other. The ceasefire agreement that went into effect on May 6, 2025, covered American vessels and almost nothing …
Why Washington's Red Sea Truce With the Houthis Is Haunting Hormuz
One year after the Trump-Houthi ceasefire in the Red Sea, the same pattern is playing out at the Strait of Hormuz.
"Superb as usual. My only question is whether Fatima is right to say that "the calculation [in Washington] is that a weakened regime that still collects tolls at the strait is preferable to the chaos of a collapsed one." First, I'm not sure that the Trump administration has "calculations," in the sense we usually use the word; second, I find it hard to imagine that it would care about the prospect of chaos, but easy to imagine that Trump would think of regime change as a glorious achievement (which it would indeed be), and chaos, should it ensue--which would be very likely, absent our sustained and competent engagement--as "their problem."
Otherwise, this is a painfully accurate description of our strategic habits, which our adversaries know very well. "
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