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Source: https://www.wsj.com/opinion/the-u-s-needs-its-mideast-bases-bde1bcdc?mod=opinion_lead_pos5
The U.S. Needs Its Mideast Bases
(Wall Street Journal) Reuel Marc Gerecht and Ray Takeyh - The U.S. was always a reluctant hegemon in the Persian Gulf. After the departure of the British in 1971, a Vietnam-weary America enlisted its local allies to protect the waterway, meaning Iran. After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, America was obliged to take charge. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter announced: "An attempt by any outside force to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force." The Islamic Republic now has the armed forces and the ideology to extort its neighbors if no Western power is there to prevent it. Washington may be tempted to move its bases from the Persian Gulf region since many of them sustained substantial damage, and our Arab allies can be fair-weather friends. Strategically, it would be a disaster. Iran's rulers sense the end of American hegemony. Tehran's offensive capacity has proved more effective than the combined aerial defense of the Gulf kingdoms and the U.S. The administration needs to think about how to keep the failure at Hormuz from turning into a regional, if not global, rout. The first step is to make clear that American bases aren't going anywhere. The Islamic Republic has profound internal problems. We should commit to waiting them out. Mr. Gerecht is a resident scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Mr. Takeyh is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.