00:00I mean, the U.S. Navy is often described as being the most powerful naval force on the planet.
00:07And I'd like to start by asking you, that being the case, why is reopening the Strait of Hormuz proving
00:12to be so difficult?
00:15Well, there are a couple of things. The capabilities of the Iranians is first and foremost.
00:19They have mines, they have missiles, they've had drones. They've shown they're willing to use that.
00:24So that threat, not only to the commercial shipping, but to our U.S. forces are prevalent.
00:31That's the biggest concern. We can eradicate that or at least address those by removing the mines, conducting mine countermeasures
00:39operations.
00:40And I believe that's ongoing. But those ships also have extensive defense systems, electronics, weapons and other means of countering
00:49the drones.
00:49So they can do it. But if you want to do that, that takes a lot of ship, a lot
00:54of effort.
00:54But more importantly, you need the confidence of commercial shippers that they're willing to take that risk.
01:01And as of today, very few of them have.
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