No. of Recommendations: 1
Detrimental how? Probably the price of oil would go up. OK.
Certainly not ideal. But I don't see any great threat if we neutralize their air force and navy (easy). Then maybe a full blockade...nothing goes in or out of Iran. Their economy is already a mess. They can't ship missiles (or oil) out, and nothing gets in. Except by land (that would be another can of worms since it would involve other nations like Iraq).
Detrimental, the same way that the current situation is detrimental. Regional instability would lead to massive economic consequences to international shipping and oil exports in the Gulf.
China and Russia wouldn't stand a US blockade of Iran, of course - Iran would ask for their support and assistance in escorting Iran-flag ships into the region.
Sure, if a bully sends a minion to harass you, you break his nose. Then you go to the bully and throat-punch him. No other way to dissuade a bully than to make it cost him something.
And then you go to jail for assault and battery. Or whatever you want to put into the metaphor to match the fact that it will cost you more to attack the bully than the damage the minion is doing by harassing you. Because this isn't a metaphorical "bully" harassing you for no good reason, but a regionally strong military power that is pursuing real regional interests.
The fantasy here is assuming that there is a very low-cost option that the US can take to stop Iran from taking these relatively small-scale actions. There is not. We certainly have the option to escalate the situation into a full-on war that inflames the Middle East....but the cost of doing that is so unbelievably high that Iran knows we're not going to do it (and we know Iran knows we're not going to do it). If we were going to do something insanely costly to temporarily abate the harassment, we'd just invade Yemen. But we're not doing that, and we're not starting a war with Iran over this, either. So threatening to sink an Iranian ship is an empty threat, and not one that will magically and costlessly stop the Iranian support of the Houthis.
