Western strategic analysts obsess over naval mines when discussing Iran’s ability to close the Strait of Hormuz. It’s an oddly twentieth-century fixation, conjuring images of covert nighttime deployments and painstaking minesweeping operations that feel lifted from Cold War contingency planning. Yet this analytical tunnel vision misses something far more dangerous: Iran has spent decades building a comprehensive coastal missile defense network along the entire Persian Gulf coastline, effectiv...

Western strategic analysts obsess over naval mines when discussing Iran’s ability to close the Strait of Hormuz. It’s an oddly twentieth-century fixation, conjuring images of covert nighttime deployments and painstaking minesweeping operations that feel lifted from Cold War contingency planning. Yet this analytical tunnel vision misses something far more dangerous: Iran has spent decades building a comprehensive coastal missile defense network along the entire Persian Gulf coastline, effectiv...