On Tuesday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said that “If you really want to control the Straits of Hormuz, you would have to send a couple hundred thousand troops in. I don’t think the president’s inclined to do that. And I think the Iranians know that.”
Paul stated, “Do you see us as closer or farther away from getting rid of militarization? So, let’s just make the argument, are we better off now or before the war? So, before the war, there had been a discussion, but never had been a militarization before. People have talked about it for decades, but it never happened. So, now the Strait of Hormuz is militarized. So, that, I would argue, we’re worse off.”
He continued, “People say, well, maybe we’re better off because we have more leverage to get them to give up their nuclear weapons. I don’t know, I see them dragging their heels and being sly and clever with this, and knowing that we’re probably not going to put troops in there. If you really want to control the Straits of Hormuz, you would have to send a couple hundred thousand troops in. I don’t think the president’s inclined to do that. And I think the Iranians know that. I still hope for the best, and the best would be open the Strait of Hormuz and then maybe get them to trade sanctions relief for removal of enriched uranium. But I don’t think we’re closer to that. I think we’re actually farther away.”
He added that there is an argument that we’re in a better spot to get a trade of sanctions relief for enriched uranium.
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