{"id":5752,"date":"2026-04-18T21:31:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T21:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=5752"},"modified":"2026-04-18T21:31:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T21:31:59","slug":"iran-doesnt-need-a-navy-to-choke-the-worlds-oil-lifeline-just-a-swarm-of-mosquito-boats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?p=5752","title":{"rendered":"Iran doesn\u2019t need a navy to choke the world\u2019s oil lifeline \u2014 just a swarm of &#8216;mosquito&#8217; boats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <div style=\"display: grid; grid-template-columns: 300px 160px; gap: 2px; width: 460px; background: #eee; padding: 2px;\">\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u6574\u884c\u5bbd\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876674\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"grid-column: 1\/-1; width: 460px; height: 90px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876676\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u5de6\u4fa7\u7ad6\u6392 -->\r\n  <div style=\"height: 250px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876672\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  <div style=\"height: 500px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876680\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u6469\u5929\u697c\uff08\u548c\u5de6\u4fa7\u5b8c\u5168\u5bf9\u9f50\uff09 -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row: 3\/5; height: 750px; background: #ccc; display: grid; place-items: center;\">\r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e2\" data-zoneid=\"5876678\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n  \r\n  <script async type=\"application\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/a.magsrv.com\/ad-provider.js\"><\/script> \r\n <ins class=\"eas6a97888e6\" data-zoneid=\"5876682\"><\/ins> \r\n <script>(AdProvider = window.AdProvider || []).push({\"serve\": {}});<\/script>\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>ISLAMABAD \u2014 While President Trump said the US has \u201cdefeated the Iranian navy,\u201d pointing to waves of strikes that wiped out warships, submarines and key military sites since late February, Tehran was still able to force closed the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because in the narrow, oil-choked waters of the Strait of Hormuz, the war was never really about big ships.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s about the swarm, experts tell The Post.<\/p>\n<p>Iran\u2019s so-called \u201cmosquito fleet\u201d \u2014 thousands of small, fast-attack boats paired with drones and coastal missiles \u2014 is proving it can still rattle global oil markets even after US strikes hammered much of Tehran\u2019s military infrastructure, according to defense analysts and US officials.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The IRGC speed boats are fast, light, and easily replacable. <span class=\"credit\">NurPhoto via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThey call them \u2018mosquito fleets\u2019 because they\u2019re small and annoying \u2014 and they hit,\u201d said former Pentagon official and Atlantic Council fellow Alex Plitsas. \u201cBut they\u2019re enough to bite and be obnoxious.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>And with \u201cthousands of them\u201d operating in one of the world\u2019s most critical shipping lanes, he warned, \u201cobnoxious\u201d may be all it takes.<\/p>\n<p>President Trump acknowledged on Monday that while US forces devastated Iran\u2019s conventional fleet, the smaller boats were largely left alone \u2014 brushing them off as a minimal threat.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIran\u2019s Navy is laying at the bottom of the sea, completely obliterated \u2013 158 ships,\u201d Trump posted on Truth Social. \u201cWhat we have not hit are their small number of, what they call, \u201cfast attack ships,\u201d because we did not consider them much of a threat.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But days later, those \u201csmall\u201d boats are driving a big problem.<\/p>\n<p>For years, Iran has built two navies: a traditional fleet of frigates and submarines \u2014 many now damaged or destroyed \u2014 and a shadow force run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, designed specifically for the tight confines of the Persian Gulf, according to US Navy and Pentagon assessments.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The speed boats are known as the \u201cmosquito fleet,\u201d experts said. <span class=\"credit\">U.S. Navy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>That second force is now front and center, and they\u2019re cheap, replaceable and built to overwhelm. <\/p>\n<p>The fleet includes thousands of small, high-speed boats capable of racing at 40 to 60 knots, armed with machine guns, rockets and, in some cases, anti-ship missiles or mine-laying gear, according to defense analysts and Congressional Research Service reports.<\/p>\n<p>Since Feb. 28, US officials \u2014 including statements from US Central Command \u2014 say American forces have destroyed or degraded a significant portion of Iran\u2019s conventional military, including large naval vessels, missile infrastructure and drone production sites.<\/p>\n<p>But the smaller, more elusive systems \u2014 drones and fast-attack boats \u2014 are harder to eliminate because of their size, mobility and sheer numbers.<\/p>\n<p>Plitsas put it even more starkly: \u201cWe have literally bombed the living sh-t out of them\u2026 80 or 90% of their missiles, the industrials, the drones, everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>What\u2019s left of the Iranian navy doesn\u2019t have to block the Strait of Hormuz \u2014 to be effective, it just needs to make each trip feel like a gamble, one expert told The Post. <span class=\"credit\">REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cToday, they were still able to tell the US to go f-ck themselves, attack three ships and keep any ship owners from being willing to transit the Strait,\u201d Plitsas said.<\/p>\n<p>In modern naval warfare, Plitsas said \u2014 especially in narrow chokepoints \u2014 you don\u2019t need to control the sea, you just need to make it too dangerous to use.<\/p>\n<p>The Strait of Hormuz carries roughly one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil supply, according to the US Energy Information Administration, making even temporary disruptions a global economic threat. That\u2019s a significant form of leverage that Tehran is now trying to lean on.<\/p>\n<p>Shutting it down completely would require a massive military effort, but Iran isn\u2019t trying to do that, Plitsas said. Instead, it\u2019s executing a lower-cost, high-impact strategy that\u2019s proving harder to stop.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve realized they don\u2019t have to actually mine the straits,\u201d Plitsas said. \u201cA couple of drones and a couple of small boats\u2026 have been able to choke the world\u2019s largest strategic waterway at risk without actually permanently closing it \u2014 and wreaking havoc on the markets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Unlike traditional warships, these boats are difficult to track on radar, easy to hide along Iran\u2019s coastline and cheap enough to lose without strategic consequences.<\/p>\n<p>For US planners, the bigger concern may not be what Iran has left \u2014 but what it\u2019s willing to endure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Iranians are not deterred,\u201d Plitsas warned. \u201cBecause they see this as an existential threat, they\u2019re willing to be broke and poor and have 50, 60, 70% of their military blown up \u2014 as long as they get to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That mindset complicates any path to victory \u2014 because battlefield losses don\u2019t necessarily translate into strategic surrender.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo what the US needs to figure out is, where is the break point?\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so far, we haven\u2019t found it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><!-- \u603b\u5bb9\u5668\uff1a\u6700\u5927\u5bbd908px Grid\u7d27\u51d1\u5e03\u5c40 -->\r\n<div style=\"display: grid; 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display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n\t\r\n<!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114303\" data-width=\"125\" data-height=\"125\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114303});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n  <!-- \u53f3\u4fa7\u7ad6\u680f\uff1a160\u00d7600 \u6574\u5217\u9ad8\u5e7f\u544a -->\r\n  <div style=\"grid-row:3\/8; height:600px;  display:grid; place-items:center;\">\r\n    <!-- JuicyAds v3.0 -->\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async src=\"https:\/\/poweredby.jads.co\/js\/jads.js\"><\/script>\r\n<ins id=\"1114301\" data-width=\"160\" data-height=\"600\"><\/ins>\r\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\" data-cfasync=\"false\" async>(adsbyjuicy = window.adsbyjuicy || []).push({'adzone':1114301});<\/script>\r\n<!--JuicyAds END-->\r\n  <\/div>\r\n\r\n<\/div><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/04\/18\/world-news\/iran-doesnt-need-a-navy-to-choke-the-worlds-oil-lifeline-just-a-swarm-of-mosquito-boats\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD \u2014 While President Trump said the US has \u201cdefeated the Iranian navy,\u201d pointing to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[349],"tags":[2795,6579,883,318,6580,6581,3252,396,3476,460],"class_list":["post-5752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-boats","tag-choke","tag-doesnt","tag-iran","tag-lifeline","tag-mosquito","tag-navy","tag-oil","tag-swarm","tag-worlds"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/125923532.jpg",1200,799,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/125923532-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/125923532-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/125923532-768x511.jpg",640,426,true],"large":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/125923532-1024x682.jpg",640,426,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/125923532.jpg",1200,799,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/125923532.jpg",1200,799,false],"covernews-slider-full":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/125923532-1115x715.jpg",1115,715,true],"covernews-slider-center":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/125923532-800x500.jpg",800,500,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/125923532-1024x682.jpg",1024,682,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/125923532-540x340.jpg",540,340,true],"covernews-medium-square":["https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/125923532-400x250.jpg",400,250,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?author=1"},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/?cat=349\" rel=\"category\">Blog<\/a>","tag_info":"Blog","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/8657085.xyz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}