Iran Shows You Don’t Have to Be a Superpower

Iran enters peace negotiations with “powerful leverage” due to its control of the Strait of Hormuz, even as its military capabilities have been degraded, Bloomberg reports.

Wall Street Journal: “Tehran has said it intends to charge ships to transit the strait, weaponizing its control over the channel far into the future. It isn’t yet clear if the U.S., its Middle East allies or those in Europe and Asia that depend on energy supplies flowing through the strait will tolerate such interference in what previously was an open waterway, or how they might stop it.”

“In exploiting the economic pinch-point off its coast, Iran is following a trail blazed by the U.S. and China, which for years have used their dominance in key areas of global commerce to pursue their foreign-policy goals.”