Greg Myrie

We should really expect this to continue.

Yeah, well, President Trump addressed these reports and he said, quote, no, I'm not putting troops anywhere.

If I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you, but I'm not putting troops anywhere.

So this sounds like a no with an option to change his mind.

Now, NPR has confirmed with U.S.

officials that two Marine Expeditionary Units are making their way to the region.

We don't know what their mission is, but it's certainly generating a lot of speculation.

And, of course, one possibility would be an operation intended to open the Strait of Hormuz.

Of course, that's the critical choke point for oil in the Gulf that Iran has effectively shut down.

Yeah, it's not going to be easy.

This was a problem that didn't exist when the war began, and Trump hasn't laid out a clear plan to fix it.

Iran has lost most of its conventional military power, but it's still very well positioned to carry out attacks from the rugged coastline with drones or with these fast boats in the Gulf.

and particularly around the Strait of Hormuz, which is just 21 miles wide.

The Gulf has really become a giant parking lot for ships.

There's some 3,000 oil tankers, gas tankers, cargo ships, all stranded according to the UN's shipping agency.

These ships are unwilling to challenge the Iranians.

And the U.S.

Navy only has around 20 ships in the region.

Yeah, Scott, there's been a lot of back and forth, and now a half dozen European and Asian nations have issued a joint statement saying they'll contribute to appropriate efforts to open the Gulf.

But that's pretty vague, and no one is pledging anything tangible like a warship.