Subject: Re: The seized Iranian ship...
Why is that head scratching?

Because it's rather absurd. The US and the Israelis have shot down literally thousands of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles. According to you,

They've been able to strike our military bases and the infrastructure of our allies, despite the deployment of defensive anti-projectile systems. Their ability to do that, and our inability to stop them, has allowed them to drive the U.S. to a ceasefire/negotiating posture rather than just forcing them with military strikes to do what we want.

This is serious Come on, man territory.

I'll remind you that we haven't seriously made an attempt to force open the straits as yet. Right now some ship captains are figuring out there are safe lines through. But I'm sure the mighty Iranians let the cruise ships through in a gesture of their magnanimity.

And this
They just needed to demonstrate that they could overwhelm the defensive systems and cause massive damage to energy infrastructure if we pushed them to the brink,

What "massive damage" have they caused to the "energy infrastructure"? You mean the Saudis' Red Sea pipeline? This one?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/mone...

Saudi Arabia returned its East-West pipeline to full operating capacity of about 7 million barrels a day, reestablishing a critical route for crude shipments to the Red Sea.

I suppose we should just surrender to the Iranians now. Might save us the trouble later.