Mark Gagnon

And what Saddam expected to be a quick victory turned into a bloody, grinding eight-year war that killed somewhere between like 500,000 and over a million people.

And the borders never changed.

And low-key, America kind of like held out Saddam.

And they saw Iran as an existential threat.

And they were like, all right, we can help Iraq as like a proxy go against Iran.

And so by 1984, the war had spilled into the Persian Gulf itself in what became known as the Tanker War.

Now, Iraq, trying to strangle Iran's economy, began attacking Iranian oil tankers and oil facilities on Karg Island.

This is Iran's main oil export terminal.

Now, Iran retaliated by attacking tankers carrying oil from Iraq's allies, specifically Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Suddenly, the world's busiest oil shipping lane had become a war zone.

And between 1984 and 88, over 400 ships were attacked in the Persian Gulf.

And as a result, insurance rates were skyrocketing.

Oil prices are swinging wildly.

And the world got its first taste of what happens when the free flow of oil through Hormuz is threatened or turned off.

The United States responded with Operation Ernest Will in 87.

This is the largest naval convoy operation since World War II.

And basically, it just escorted reflagged Kuwaiti tankers through the Gulf, and it sent a very clear signal that Washington considered a free passage through Hormuz as a vital national security interest that they were going to fight for.

America's like, look, we need this oil, and we don't care what it takes to get these people through.

We're going to put all of our boys on it, and that's how we're going to get our people in the world the oil that they need.

The most dramatic moment came on April 18th, 1988, with Operation Praying Mantis.