How long could Iran blockade the Strait of Hormuz?

Nasty things.

Very nasty things.

 

You really think most of those "stockpiled supplies" are gong to survive days of U.S. led airstrikes?

 

Yes, absolutely.

Iran, after recent wars against enemies using chemical weapons with half a million casualties, and the specter of the USA who already had supported a dictator over Iran while looting its oil supplies, has prepared for war to a level the USA seems to find hard to fathom.

They have tremendous hardened underground military and infrastructure facilities that can even withstand regular nuclear attack. These facilities can survive MONTHS of USA air attacks, using hidden and phony entrances, advanced recovery and simply digging out the openings after attacks.

Unless we proceed with ground forces, many of those underground facilities will not be destroyed and will continue launches until they run out of missiles.

Additionally, we are going to have to bomb EVERY truck, building, and ravine in the country to get all the possible missile hiding places. That takes time.

 

Proof please?

Sounds more like you're confusing Iran with North Korea.

 

If nothing else, you are certainly, well, candid. And you do get bonus points for that. I suppose.

Like most on the left, you (quite obviously) just wish that the Jewish state--which you smear with the pejorative term, "Zionis[t]"--would just wither away, since any non-Muslim-majority state in the Middle East is viewed as an intruder...

 

for the entire length of the war with Iraq the US was never able to destroy or prevent scud missiles attacks...Iranians aren't stupid they've been busy digging in, there's no doubt the mountains at the straight of Hormuz have cruise missiles in hardened shelters...

 

once a conflict has begun just the threat of attack will stop tanker traffic, unless there is a full scale land invasion to remove launch sites attacking even one in ten tankers will end all traffic as insurance company's refuse to cover losses...conceivably they could end traffic indefinitely, the damage to the world economy even for a 6 month closure would catastrophic, Iran doesn't need to win a single battle to win the war economically...

 

<<<Mod Edit: Off topic harassment>>>
Those Scud didn't help Saddam.. As a matter of fact they didn't do (*)(*)(*)(*).

as for those "bunkers":

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-14/30-000-pound-bunker-buster-bomb-now-ready.html

 

Where did you get that idea?

The U.S destroyed SCUD launchers with everything from special forces teams to B-52s.

And you provided no proof of the Iranians having cruise missiles in hardened shelters.

And what if the U.S. and other maritime nations simply seizes hundreds of supertankers and operates them themselves

 

Out numbered 6:1 LOL

 

coalition forces never succeeded in eliminating the scud threat, scud launches continued right up to the ceasefire...the Iraqi's were very adept at quick launch speeds and hiding mobile launch platforms...at wars end Iraq still had a number of mobile launchers and 60+ missiles...

whoa, now that's naive...a country that buries it's nuclear facilities deep under mountains hasn't got the sense to bury it's prime weapons? really...Iranian islands in the straights are absolutely covered with hardened underground shelters, Iranians are smart enough to shelter AA, shore guns and SAM's on the islands but it has never occurred to them to bury cruise missiles, ya right....the range of covering cruise missiles can be hidden 70k inland deep in the mountains and still hit anything in the straights...a quick visit to google earth confirms...

cruise missiles will be a combination of buried and a highly mobile systems(hidden)...both used in a shell game...

the US nationalize foreign tankers ya like that's gonna happen...

 

You think that 1.3 billion Chinese are anti-Iranian 143 million Russians ? Nuclear powers . Chuckle on.

 

That's if both of those countries out right turned against the US.

 

Watch the Security Council and see.

 

They would not do it. No matter how driven by religion and hatred of the western world / Israel this government might be, they know forcing a military conflict with the rest of the world (other oil exporting arab countries would probably not be to fond of the blockade as well) would be their end.

How long could the blockade last? Probably about a few hours as soon as military actions against it starts.

 

Once the country is occupied with US and NATO troops, and secured, there will be plenty of time. Also, Iranians can be interrogated as to where these hidden nukes are located. We'll find out.