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If you’ve been following US President Donald Trump’s pleas to other nations to help secure the vital oil shipping lane through the Strait of Hormuz, you might be wondering: if it’s so important, why isn’t the vast US military already doing it?
Petrol stations are running low as the global fuel crisis bites, while hundreds of tankers languish in the gulfs on either side of the strait, denied safe passage.
Naval expert Jennifer Parker served for 20 years with the Royal Australian Navy, so we asked her why the US isn’t doing more to secure the strait.
She outlines four reasons why that’s much harder than it sounds – and the strategic calculations keeping the US on the sidelines, for now at least.
Ps. A small request. Google recently launched a feature that allows you to nominate trusted sources so they appear near the top of your search results. If you trust what we do, please take a few seconds to nominate The Conversation – you’ll get a better search result and we’ll get a better shot at reaching new readers.
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Matt Garrow
Editorial Web Developer
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Justin Bergman, The Conversation; Matt Garrow, The Conversation; Mitchell Costello, The Conversation
There are 4 reasons why the US may be reluctant to risk such a massive operation.
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Best reads this week
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Bamo Nouri, City St George's, University of London; Inderjeet Parmar, City St George's, University of London
Donald Trump’s revival of a ‘roadmap’ to peace dismissed by Iran in 2025 suggests he is looking for a way out of an increasingly unwinnable war.
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Marianne Hanson, The University of Queensland
Israel’s nuclear program has long been shrouded in secrecy. Here’s what we know about it.
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Rob Nicholls, University of Sydney
The case was the first of its kind. But it won’t be the last.
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Brent Keogh, University of Technology Sydney
The new track from US country singer Jelly Roll, Mexican singer Carín León and Canadian producer Cirkut feels like a cheap bourbon hangover.
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TC Weekly podcast
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
The security expert says there’s been a ‘disturbing’ rise in Australians’ anxiety about national security over the past two years.
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Gemma Ware, The Conversation
Scott Pace, the head of the National Space Council during the first Trump administration, talks to The Conversation Weekly podcast about the launch of Artemis II crewed mission round the Moon.
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Our most-read article this week
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Angel Zhong, RMIT University
Try this calculator to see if you will have enough super to retire comfortably.
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In case you missed this week's big stories
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Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra
The Albanese government faces problems on several fronts as the Iran War drags on.
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Steve Turton, CQUniversity Australia
The system is now twice the size it was when it reached far north Queensland, 5,700km and one week ago.
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Adrian Beaumont, The University of Melbourne
The DemosAU MRP poll projects outcomes for every lower house seat. It forecasts great news for One Nation and catastrophically bad news for the Coalition.
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Lurion De Mello, Macquarie University
It’s highly unlikely Australia will end up with no diesel. But if what is available becomes extremely expensive, the whole economy – and all of us – will feel it.
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Arshin Adib-Moghaddam, SOAS, University of London
Iran has used its ability to close the waterway many times over the past 40 years.
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Juan Zahir Naranjo Cáceres, University of the Sunshine Coast
Cubans are suffering through a series of nationwide blackouts as Donald Trump threatens to “take” the country. Here’s what might happen next.
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Rand Low, Bond University
It’s famously the asset investors flock to in a financial storm. But over the past few months, the gold price has been on a roller coaster ride – and now plummeted.
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Duyen Vo, Monash University; Andrea Reupert, Monash University; Fiona Longmuir, Monash University; Kelly-Ann Allen, Monash University
Teachers are calling for a 35% pay rise over four years. The Victorian government has offered 17%.
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Hazel Moir, Australian National University
Australian producers will still be able to use terms like prosecco, kransky and parmesan – but there’s a catch.
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Jane Kelsey, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau
Changes to fundamental World Trade Organization rules are being driven by the US and EU. This week’s meeting in Cameroon could see developing nations lose out.
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Further reading on Iran
“Thanks to the Books and Ideas team, firstly for choosing five very different books on Iran and considering the experience of Iranians of different backgrounds. I note that prison experiences in Iran appear in at least three of the choices. This leads me to mention Behrooz Ghamari’s “Remembering Akbar: Inside the Iranian Revolution”. It is the account of a young Marxist revolutionary actively involved in the events of 1978. Arrested, he spent some years in Evin prison on death row. By a strange and fortuitous set of circumstances he was released, and ended up in the USA where he is now an active historian and sociologist. In his latest book, “The Long War on
Iran: New Events Old Questions”, he takes a scalpel to decades of misguided US policy on Iran and offers a rather different ex-patriate take on unfolding events. Finally I must mention “Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Republic of Iran" by American Jewish author, Medea Benjamin. Starting with Cyrus the Great and the Arab Invasion anchors the book with a certain longer-range historical perspective. Others will have other choices that flesh out a better understanding of the multiple layers of forces operating in Iranian society and in the Iranian diaspora. But these three in particular have given me a better sense of what is going on.”
J. Keith Atkinson, School of Languages and Cultures, The University of Queensland
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