The Washington Free Beacon’s Matthew Continetti compared increased tensions with Iran to the tanker wars in the 80s Monday on America's Newsroom with Martha MacCallum.
Continetti discussed the similarities in the build-up to the tanker war and current conflicts in the Persian Gulf.
"There are a few parallels," Continetti said.
"One is when the tanker war was happening, the United States was negotiating with Iran. There were secret and involved controversial arms-for-hostages deals in the Reagan administration. Of course, right now we're negotiating over their nuclear program. Another parallel, they started exactly the same way—the tanker wars did, with Iranian incursions on vessels not marked U.S. vessels."
Exemplified by the Iranian commandeering of a Marshall Islands cargo vessel last week, Continetti said there were parallels between what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz and military conflicts of the 80s.
"You have this kind of a building momentum that might end up in a military conflict, which was the case in 1980s."
When asked what lessons could be learned from the tanker war to better prepare for tensions with Iran today, Continetti highlighted what worked for Ronald Reagan to get Iranian cooperation. He did not think the U.S. would get the same kind of leadership from President Obama.
"Well, I think one thing it is important to realize is that the Iranians did respond when the United States basically started shooting vessels out of the ocean and some other Iranian military installations," Continetti said. "There hasn't been anything like that so far. Those of us who followed the Obama administration probably realize that he is unlikely to escalate the conflict himself."
Already, the Pentagon has said it is not obligated to protect Marshall Islands ships from Iran. The State Department will not say whether it has asked for Iran to release the Maersk Tigris.
"The Iranians are approaching the negotiations with Obama from a position of strength," Continetti said. "Then they're using that strength to cause trouble in the Persian Gulf, in Yemen, in Iraq, in Syria and so on."