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1/2 It's not about guts! It's about insurance. Tankers are expensive ($100m). Shipping companies issue bonds to buy them, which have covenants (rules) requiring the proper insurance to sail (war risk in this case). The crews are for it; they get a bonus for sailing war zones. 2/2 Yesterday @mercoglianos had a great point about the difference between "seapower" (1 word) and "sea power" (2 words) or maybe "$ea power." Seapower is military power "$ea power" is the ability to have commercial trade. The main purpose of the Navy is to protect shipping lanes and allow commerce to flow on the high seas. This was the reason the US created a Navy in the early 1800s: to fend off piracy and allow trade. The Navy seems to have forgotten about "sea power" and only thinks in terms of "seapower." Maybe if they had attended conferences like this over the last few years, they would have better understood "$ea power" and not been surprised by the insurance companies pulling back effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz. https://t.co/8W6Nc5j4Rp