Right and after the Cole that was eliminated. It’s not like in open sea or alongside a pier/at anchor we’re allowing a 50 yard CPA. This is a very specific area controlled by a very specific group. We know who’s there, it’s constantly under surveillance as evident by the intel we get every time we transit.
I reiterate what I said, there’s better qualified people with better intel than you and I making these policies.
Also, how are you going to justify blowing up these boats in their own territorial waters? “Well the boats were behaving the same way they have been since we overthrew their government 40 years ago but we just decided now that we don’t like it.” Like I pointed out above, it’s their waters, near their land. We’d act the same way if they came towards our boarders. The Brits follow the Russians when they come through the English Channel.
We (The US Navy and its allies) are interfering in conflicts that immediately affect their part of the world. Don’t want gun boats coming near your ship? Don’t transit the strait and head to Bahrain to offload weapons destined to blow up people/places/things that directly affect their economy/well being, don’t prop up other shitty regimes with human rights abuses, don’t make a deal about Nukes just to back out a year or two later.