Brian Williams asks what it means if the Iranians shut down the Strait of Hormuz.
Mitt Romney says it would be an act of war. (Much of the world’s oil passes through there.) He says Obama and his predecessors dangerously shrunk the Navy, hobbling U.S. efforts to keep the seas open.
Newt Gingrich agrees, but says Obama’s main fault is in cancelling a joint military exercise with Israel. (But Israel canceled it, according to every reliable report I’ve seen, and according to what the parties have told me.)
Ron Paul says the predicate for closing the strait is the "blockade" the U.S. has imposed, and that in itself is an act of war.
But there is no blockade. There are sanctions, but the point of the sanctions is to force Iran to discount its oil — not to shut down its trade. A blockade in that case would defeat its purpose.
Rick Santorum says consider the alternative: Iran’s nuclear program. He says Iran is Obama’s biggest failure. He likens it to ceding a country to Al Qaeda.
He accuses Obama of "believing" that Iran would be welcome into the community of nations once it gets a nuclear weapon. Not sure where he gets that — Obama has repeatedly said he’s dedicated to keeping Iran from getting nukes, and has done more than any of his predecessors to isolate the country.
