I'm always bemused by the complete and utter failure to note a few things along those lines:
1. Iran has developed (in the last few years) small stealth submarines designed for operation in the shallow water of the Persian Gulf.
2. Said subs are outfitted with high-speed (360km/h) torpedoes based on the Russian Shkval.
3. Iran has threatened that if it comes under attack from any quarter, it will sink ships passing the Straits of Hormuz, effectively blocking the shipping lanes.
Putting an American naval vessel on the bottom of the Straits of Hormuz to use as its blockade would be very high on the Iranian wish list, but failing that, it would likely be open season on anything big enough to block the shipping lane. How fast can a massive carrier group take evasive action in a narrowly-navigable passage? How about one of those behemoth oil tankers? Probably not fast enough to dodge a Shkval, and it would only take one. People who argue for this confrontation never seem to think it through.
]]>Setting aside that, btw, the views he expresses in the column are not fringe within US politics.
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