This week, Israel’s words and actions have made clear that Jerusalem will set up a buffer zone in southern Lebanon. On the Iranian front, news has moved so quickly, by the time we write that section, things will have changed - so let’s dive right in.

Hezbollah Will Never Return

For decades, Hezbollah, Iran’s preeminent foreign fighting terrorist army, has waged war against Israel from Lebanese territory. From the 1979 dawn of the Islamic Republic until the 2005 Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, Syria occupied (actually occupied, from an actual country) its neighbor.

That revolution turned Syria from a dominating power into (eventually) a vassal state of Iran. This did not sit well not with non-Shia/Alawite Muslims in the areas, and, thus, the Syrian Civil War, and collapse of the Assad regime.

In the ensuing years, (after its creation) Christians United for Israel, took a strong and deliberate position against the American investment in the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). We were rebuffed by leaders of both parties. As CUFI Action Fund Director of Public Policy and Strategy Boris Zilberman noted just this week, “What have we been training and equipping the LAF for? A few symbolic captures of Hezbollah weapons caches aside, America’s support for the LAF has amounted to a jobs program for what amounts to a Hezbollah auxiliary force.”

Since the LAF did not, Israel is now addressing the issue, permanently.

The Assad regime’s power directly enabled the Iranian land bridge used to resupply Hezbollah. As the years progressed, Hezbollah was able to dramatically grow in spite of the strategic shift. But now, both the land bridge and - thanks to Israeli pilots - those that cross the Litani River have been destroyed. Israel’s latest actions now prevent Hezbollah’s primary threatening forces from receiving any kind of significant relief.

On Thursday morning, Jerusalem announced the addition of one of its most elite urban combat infantry brigades, Givati, to the fray, signaling a true “Rafah-style” approach. The bottom line is this: Hezbollah will never return to southern Lebanon. All terrorists south of the river located by the IDF will surrender or die.

About Those Iranian (though in a handful of cases Emirati, really) Islands

By the end of the week, the United States will have deployed an estimated 4-5,000 ground combat soldiers to the region in relation to the war with Iran. This includes, Marines, members of the Joint Special Operations Command, and key elements of the 82nd Airborne division.

Much of the media (and the Iranians it seems) believe the U.S. will use the troops take to Kharg Island, located about 15 miles off the coast of Iran, near Busher. Ninety percent of Iran’s oil runs through the island. Iran has been amassing forces aimed at preventing an American invasion since the war began, and they’ve prepared for an invasion of the island for decades.

Despite the island’s importance, it is located well northwest of the Strait of Hormuz. Reports in recent days have indicated that the Trump administration is considering taking other smaller islands in and around the Strait in an effort to control the maritime passageway.

We’re not entirely sure about those reports. In every case, the measure of an island’s importance to Iran is directly correlated with the extent to which the regime will scorch the earth to prevent the U.S. from taking and holding it.

These islands are within range of Iranian territorial weapons, and while the U.S. has refrained from targeting energy infrastructure, the Iranians could very well light their own oil fields ablaze, as just one example, creating highly significant operational, economic, and environmental challenges.

A Good Ol’-Fashioned Naval Blockade

So, what to do? Close the Strait.

Iran continues to use the Strait of Hormuz while preventing everyone else from doing so. Considering that, alongside an oil pipeline they built to circumvent the Strait (which they’re now using to sell oil to China), and it’s clear that measures need to be taken to choke off the regime.

Without holding any islands, the allied forces should close the Strait to all Iranian traffic, save humanitarian goods. They should not allow any Iranian vessels to traverse key shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf, and we must end Iran’s use of the Jask oil terminal located south of the Strait.

The U.S. presented Iran with a 15-point plan of surrender. Iran responded by saying they didn’t receive it, then they reject it but are considering it, and then Tehran sent back a five-point plan that would enable Iran to conquer the entire region and have the U.S pay for it.

There is “A time for war and a time for peace” and now is the time to choke off Iran.

Sincerely,

The CUFI Action Fund Team