Trump Backs Hegseth After Report of Dispute Over Stockpiles

Summary

Richard Haass discusses the US-Iran standoff over the Strait of Hormuz, advocating for multilateral diplomacy to secure transit lanes and long-term steps to reduce global reliance on the waterway. He criticizes the inefficiency and lack of innovation in the US defense industrial base as a decades-long bipartisan failure, and warns that Ukraine remains almost defenseless against Russian ballistic missiles without help targeting production or forcing a ceasefire through mutual pain.

• Iran and Oman are engaging on the Strait of Hormuz, with Iran likely gaining an outsized peacetime role.
• Haass recommends the US multilateralize Hormuz negotiations by involving Asian, European, and regional states.
• US military threats against Iran are called empty, as escalation risks Iranian attacks on neighboring energy infrastructure.
• He calls for long-term reduction of Hormuz’s importance via new ports, pipelines, and diversified oil and gas production.
• US weapons shortages reveal a bipartisan, decades-long failure in defense manufacturing innovation and efficiency.
• Ukraine is nearly defenseless against Russian ballistic missiles and needs help targeting production plants or forcing Moscow to the point of ceasefire.