00:00You know, we've been told that the Iranian Navy has been reduced to more or less non-existent status.
00:07And yet Iran is saying that they will trap any enemy who try to challenge them.
00:13Presumably, talk about enemy vessels that enter the Strait of Hormuz.
00:17I mean, what might the Iranians have in mind?
00:19So about 160 of their naval vessels have been sunk, according to the U.S. military.
00:25But they have thousands of small boats.
00:27And those small boats, some of them, of course, are manned and they have the ability to launch missiles from
00:34them.
00:34Some of them are unmanned and are essentially suicide drone boats.
00:39So they have the capacity to cause havoc in this very, you know, narrow waterway, 21 miles, which is, of
00:48course, very small.
00:49And they can also target ships, as they have been doing, from the coast and up on high mountain areas
00:59that look down on this actual waterway.
01:01So they have the capacity to close the Strait.
01:04And that, you know, I didn't include all the remaining sea mines, which can cause havoc against ships.
01:11And we've got to have to remember, these ships are commercial, and they don't have the capacity to deal with
01:17any of these potential threats.
01:20And nor would the insurance company feel confident sending them through there until it's been completely cleared of mines.
01:27And right now, the Iranian government is saying they don't even know where all the mines they put out are.
01:33So there is a very challenging situation here for the international shipping community.
01:39The U.S. obviously is going to try this blockade.
01:41It could backfire.
01:42It could spark the Houthis to try to obstruct the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mendeb, which would only
01:48compound all the issues that we've been discussing since this war began.
01:52The U.S. obviously is going to try this blockade.
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