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Tehran does not need those sunken vessels the Republican alluded to in order to control the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian political scientist Vali Nasr asserted in a recent interview with this newspaper. The fears of tanker owners — and, above all, insurers — are enough to deter many ships from attempting to cross the strait. Tehran also does not need frigates to deter those who venture into those waters. It is sufficient to use “drones, mines, and cheap weaponry,” ...Or, indeed, speedboats.

Iran not only has two armies — the regular military and the Revolutionary Guard — but also two navies. One is the traditional fleet, with frigates and submarines. The other is the naval force of Iran’s parallel armed force, which has some 20,000 personnel, according to an analysis by the Gulf International Forum, and which has traditionally favored small, fast vessels.

“The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) uses a ‘mosquito fleet’ instead of large warships,” confirms Saeid Golkar, a professor of political science at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, via text message from the United States. This expert on the Revolutionary Guard describes how these vessels operate “in swarms, approaching at high speed from different directions. In a narrow area like the Strait of Hormuz, this puts significant pressure on U.S. naval forces.”

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