Hold them at gunpoint, like a common highwayman? How does Iran enforce it's tolls?

They’ve set up a virtual tollbooth…. And an exit pathway that takes ships directly past the “tollbooth” (an Iranian island in the gulf, just inside the strait).

Ships are ordered to follow the path directly to the island, and after the ship’s identity is verified and the electronic transmission of the toll is received, they are allowed to leave. Failure to comply with all instructions may result in a bad hair day for the ship.

Currently, there are no American warships in the gulf. Too dangerous…. Not only from missiles and drones, but also mines.

Pete Hegseth, in his infinite wisdom, didn’t think to include minesweepers in his plans for the day after hostilities started. In fact, he decommissioned the only four minesweepers that were stationed in the Persian Gulf- last year. Now he’s trying to play catch up.

Between them, our “allies” have 150 minesweepers. Trump said today that he didn’t need any help, not that he would have received it.

NATO is a DEFENSE PACT. It wasn’t designed to be invoked by a partner nation deciding to attack another nation.

Nope. Trump is stuck… with no good options