Former national security official Fred Fleitz warned Monday on Newsmax that Iran retains a dangerous ability to threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz with coastal missile forces, even as he argued U.S. military operations are aimed at preventing Tehran from turning the narrow waterway into an economic weapon.
Fleitz, a former CIA analyst and once was the National Security Council's chief of staff, made the comments on "Bianca Across the Nation" as energy markets reacted to widening conflict involving Iran and as analysts again focused on the vulnerability of the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint used for a large share of the world's seaborne oil and liquefied natural gas.
Fleitz said there's a strong possibility that "the U.S. is going to take out the Iranian navy, and there are a large number of missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles stationed near the Strait of Hormuz, which is a real problem."
He described the missile threat as central to Iran's ability to disrupt tanker traffic, while suggesting U.S. strikes on Iranian naval assets could reduce Tehran's capacity to contest control of the waterway.
Fleitz also argued that Saudi Arabia and some Gulf partners have planned for a Hormuz disruption by expanding overland export routes that can bypass the strait and reach ports on the Red Sea.
"But most people don't know that the Saudis have planned for this," he said. "They have major gas and oil pipelines that go across the Saudi peninsula to the Red Sea, so they can export oil."
Fleitz said those routes could allow some Gulf producers to keep crude moving even if ship traffic slows through the strait, though he emphasized limits and singled out Kuwait as lacking access to the Saudi system.
"If Iran tries this because it's tried it in the past," Fleitz said, "there are other Gulf states that can use this pipeline. Kuwait can't use it. Iran can't use it."
He argued that a closure attempt would carry a built-in penalty for Tehran by restricting Iran's own exports, particularly shipments to China.
"So by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, you know what Iran is doing? It's blocking its ability to ship oil to China."
Fleitz framed the current phase of military operations as a campaign to establish air superiority and open room for further pressure on Iran's military infrastructure.
"The reason for that is because the first stage was to take out air defenses, air defense radars, air defense missiles, missiles," he said.
"We attack, we attack Iranian ships basically to clear the way to get air superiority and to allow us to really crack down on other aspects of the regime without worrying about setbacks."
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Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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