By Jo Nova
Iran says the Strait of Hormuz is open, but Donald Trump says “wait”.
In other words, the Iranians have blinked first, but the US Navy will stick around until the deal is done properly. Iran has agreed to give up the enriched uranium. It was a “GREAT AND BRILLIANT DAY FOR THE WORLD!” Donald Trump wrote on TruthSocial.
Ships apparently are waiting for insurance calls and confirmation.
Like a comedy team, France and the UK hosted a multinational teleconference call and bravely offered to lead a mission to protect freedom of navigation in the Strait, which they’ve now realized is important to “the whole world”. Trump wryly remarked that: “Now that the Hormuz Strait situation is over, I received a call from NATO asking if we would need some help”. He told them to stay home, “UNLESS THEY WANT TO LOAD UP THEIR SHIPS WITH OIL“. Adding that “They were useless when needed, a Paper Tiger!”
The Australian Prime Minister must be thrilled that he might be spared from further ignominy, as Australia’s pathetic state of energy vulnerability is obvious to everyone, and, if the Strait isn’t opened, we may be mere weeks away from running out of fuel, despite having oil deposits waiting for years to get approval to use.
Trump said he was not happy with Australia, and the PM and Treasurer protest on a weaselly technicality, that they weren’t asked for anything. All they had to do, and for free, was just endorse what Trump was doing.
When Trump says Australia wasn’t there when we needed them, he is almost certainly talking about moral support, and not our thirty year old frigates. We did send one plane, but when the key moment came, the PM called for a de-escalation which was exactly the opposite of what Trump was doing. Anthony Albanese could have said: “We must stop Iran getting a nuclear weapon.” That would have been enough
Australia’s national security swamp means we have diesel subs, but almost no diesel. As Leith van Onselen wrote “Due to its immense size, isolation, and industry composition (i.e., heavy mining and agriculture), Australia is literally one of the most diesel-dependent economies in the world.”
And the least prepared.
Albanese must have been sweating when the news came in that the refinery was on fire. He talks down the risks, but cut his fuel hunting trip short and flew straight there. And this political mistake is so obvious — the smoke has barely cleared and there is already talk of building another oil refinery in Australia. It would have been a blasphemy two months ago. But times have changed.
The PM’s big strategic trip to South East Asia is best described as theatre. He was pleased to tell the world he got 100 million litres of fuel. But the Russians mocked the size: “Daily usage is 92 million liters (sic),” [they] wrote. “Saving Australia 1 day at a time.”
A laughing stock…