Vietnam taught America the limits of its power. Hormuz is teaching it again

Vietnam taught America the limits of its power. Hormuz is teaching it again Sami Al-Arian on Tue, 09/29/2026 - 17:43 Washington believed the 1991 Gulf War had overcome the 'Vietnam Syndrome'. Seven months of bombing and blockade against Iran have brought it back Vessels sit in the Strait of Hormuz near Bandar Abbas, Iran, on 28 September 2026, a week after commercial crossings of the strait fell to two in a single day (Amirhosein Khorgooi/ISNA/WANA via Reuters) On On 22 September, only two commercial vessels crossed the Strait of Hormuz. A narrow choke point that normally handles a fifth of the world's daily oil supply, as well as a fifth of globally traded liquefied natural gas, sits almost silent under the watch of multibillion-dollar American warships that cannot convince commercial insurers to risk even a handful of tankers. Washington can still destroy almost anything it targets across the Middle East, but whether that destruction can buy the political outcome it wants is a vastly different question. Seven months into the war against Iran that began on 28 February 2026, Washington has cycled through three strategies of coercion: massive aerial bombardment, economic strangulation through a naval blockade and direct tit-for-tat escalation. None restored normal passage through the strait. The US military can dominate the skies, sink ships and eliminate political and military leaders, yet it remains unable to compel Tehran to accept its terms. Vietnam, the Gulf War of 1991 and the current war in the Gulf belong to different eras and involve radically different adversaries that cannot be mechanically equated, yet each tells us something important about the limits and reach of American power. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); The "Vietnam Syndrome" was more than a domestic aversion to casualties. It was a crisis of confidence in the efficacy, morality and political utility of American military power. At its