No. of Recommendations: 1
They wouldn't laugh at all. The Chinese would jump at the chance to have a Gulf naval base.
They are going to be reluctant to openly align themselves with Iran in a specific defense of Iran's trying to close the sea lanes. Ponder that international ramification for a minute.
To say nothing of their efforts to reorient the Gulf States economically away from the West, and towards the East - which the Gulf States are definitely encouraging. China is already Saudi Arabia's biggest customer by a fair sight.
So the best way to align themselves with the Gulf States is to...ally with Iran against the United States? That's not going to work - all that does is push the Gulf States back in our direction.
You have to actually board them, with sailors. And since Iranian flag vessels aren't pirates, or even necessarily involved in any illegal activity at all, they don't have to let you board and you're not actually entitled to use force to make them.
The Coast Guard conducts anti-drug and anti-smuggling operations all the time. Back them up with a QRF of Navy SEALs plus a detachment of Marine Cobras in case they need muscle.
Here's how it would go. A Coast Guard cutter would signal a say, Panamanian- or Malaysian-flagged ship that it was intending to send over an inspection party. The Iranians version of QRF is their speedboats and they would dutifully send one over to harass the Coast Guard cutter.
The CG board is armed and has a 3" deck gun plus other things to use. If the Iranians get hostile, then the Marine Cobra lights up the speedboat or sinks it with a Hellfire. But that won't be necessary because the speedboat wouldn't want to tangle with an attack helicopter.
