Apache Helicopter [EPA Yonhap News]

The United States has begun to intensify its military operations to normalize the flow of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

As the economic fallout of the war in Iran escalated, with international oil prices soaring due to the virtual blockage of crude oil transport through the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. has launched operations to directly eliminate Iranian military assets threatening maritime routes, deploying Apache attack helicopters and other assets.

According to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 19th (local time), Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine announced at a press conference that the U.S. had deployed low-flying A-10 attack aircraft and Apache attack helicopters over the Strait of Hormuz.

Caine stated, "The A-10 is conducting operations targeting high-speed attack boats in the Strait of Hormuz, and Apache helicopters have also joined the combat."

He also mentioned, without naming specific countries, that some allies are participating in operations using Apache helicopters.

The Strait of Hormuz is a vital maritime chokepoint through which 20% of the world's crude oil exports pass.

Following the outbreak of war due to airstrikes by the U.S. and Israel, Iran began to virtually blockade ship traffic by laying mines in the strait and deploying suicide speedboats and drones.

As oil tanker passage was blocked, international oil prices surged, and the stock market also fluctuated, beginning to impact the U.S. economy.

There were even predictions that interest rate cuts, which President Donald Trump had been pushing for by pressuring Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, might not happen.

As the situation escalated, the U.S. requested allies to dispatch warships to escort vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, but was refused. In an effort to redirect the strait's flow, the U.S. deployed Apache helicopters and other assets.

Map of the Strait of Hormuz [Reuters Yonhap News] 

The underlying judgment appears to be that if the threats posed by Iranian mines and drones are mitigated to some extent from the air, warships could then be deployed to escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

However, the WSJ predicted that it could take weeks for the U.S. to completely clear Iran's complex military assets from the area.

Farzin Nadimi, an Iran expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a U.S. think tank, assessed that despite U.S. airstrikes, Iran still possesses a vast amount of mines, cruise missiles, and hundreds of vessels.

"It will take weeks to reach a level where operations can be conducted safely in the strait, and even then, a significant amount of Iran's military assets will remain," he said.

Michael Connell, an Iran expert at the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), also noted that the narrowest point of the Strait of Hormuz is only about 30 kilometers wide, stating that reducing the threat to a level where ships can resume passage is "possible but will take time, and it will likely be difficult to eliminate the threat 100%."

This implies that even if a stage is reached where threats are somewhat cleared and ship traffic can resume, the possibility of being attacked cannot be ruled out.

The WSJ also pointed out that normalizing the flow through the strait has become an urgent issue as Iran has begun to "weaponize" it by considering charging passage fees for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz and selectively allowing passage for ships from certain countries.

The analysis suggests that the U.S. cannot accept a situation where Iran leverages its control over the Strait of Hormuz to alleviate diplomatic isolation and establish trade relationships with countries needing oil and natural gas.

Danny Citrinowicz, a research fellow at the Atlantic Council, a U.S. think tank, commented, "Such attempts would practically create an interdependence, forcing countries that must secure energy from the Gulf region to accept Iran's demands directly or indirectly." He added that once such a power dynamic is established, it may be fundamentally difficult to change, even after the war ends.