The Hormuz Standoff, Military Readiness, and the Axis of Aggressors: Adm. Mark Montgomery & Norman Roule

The United States maintains a strategy of economic strangulation against Iran to curb its regional influence, though this approach risks long-term military readiness. Admiral Mark Montgomery and former CIA officer Norman Roule highlight that Iran, Russia, and China act as a revisionist bloc, sharing technologies to challenge U.S. global dominance. Sustained naval deployments in the Gulf have created a "readiness bathtub," where the exhaustion of munitions and hardware threatens future operational capabilities. While the Houthi threat in the Red Sea remains a critical concern for global energy markets, the U.S. must navigate this without over-committing resources. Ultimately, the defense industrial base remains under-resourced, and the failure of European allies to adequately support regional security operations exacerbates these systemic challenges, leaving the U.S. to manage multiple global theaters simultaneously.