General Discussion

There was always the implied threat of force despite the peaceful nature of that agreement. Everyone, everywhere knew that they could be hurt militarily if they didn't go along.

Hegseth is arguing that such threat has been made real to them so it is no longer an implied threat.

BUT... I would argue that they took the beating and remained defiant. Including a real power play in the Strait of Hormuz.

I don't think they learned the lesson that Whiskey Pete thinks they learned. I think they learned that we are isolated from our allies and reluctant to escalate to a ground war. They also learned that they had a lot more geopolitical leverage in Hormuz than they realized.

So here we are full circle trying to get the same deal while also giving control of the Strait to them as a protection racket.