A surge of additional United States forces to the Middle East and US President Donald Trump’s threat to “obliterate” Iran’s energy infrastructure have set the stage for what US and Israeli security officials increasingly see as the war’s possible endgame: a battle for control of the Strait of Hormuz and key energy installations. Reopening the strait - a critical conduit for global energy supplies - has emerged as perhaps the paramount objective of a war that security officials now believe is unlikely to achieve goals that briefly seemed possible at the outset of the US-Israeli military operation, including overthrowing Iran’s theocratic regime and putting a nuclear weapon permanently out of Tehran’s reach. Instead, breaking Iran’s stranglehold on the strait could enable Trump to wind down the war while claiming victory and halt an expanding global energy crisis. It could deprive Iran of a potent deterrent against future strikes - which senior Israeli officials described as inevitable if Tehran resumes ballistic missile production or moves to develop a nuclear weapon. In Israel, Trump’s online threats have raised expectations that a new phase of the war could soon get underway with the arrival of additional US firepower. A contingent of 4500 US sailors and Marines is heading to the Middle East, including an infantry battalion landing team backed by helicopters, F-35 fighter jets and armoured landing vehicles. The Pentagon also sped up the deployment of a similar unit, the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, from San Diego, defence officials said. “Those Marines aren’t coming for decoration,” said an Israeli official, one of several who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military and intelligence issues. An Iranian military spokesman said that Iran would retaliate for attacks on its oil and gas assets by hitting US-linked energy targets, information technology, and water desalination infrastructure in the Gulf region. Tehran also hammered Israel with one of its most powerful airstrikes yet - two ballistic missiles that made rare direct hits on two southern Israeli towns, injuring about 115 people. One of the towns, Dimona, is about 12km from a nuclear research facility. Iranian state television framed the strike as payback for a reported attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear site. Israel’s military said it was not aware of a strike on the facility. The new US deployment signals a plan “to take the island and the strait”, the Israeli official said, referring to Kharg Island, Iran’s main hub for exporting petroleum. Doing so could enable the US and Israel to starve Tehran of oil revenue and provide a political off-ramp for a US President who, the Israeli official said, “needs to show that the strait is open”. The surging level of US-Israeli concern over the strait was underscored by Trump’s latest effort to shape the course of the war on social media. “If Iran doesn’t FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!” he posted on the Truth Social platform yesterday. At the same time, Trump’s unusual decision to lift oil sanctions on Iran, potentially giving his enemy access to a windfall of revenue, has prompted even Republicans to raise new concerns about the war’s direction and merit. Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, speaking on ABC today, said that “it’s a real problem” that he, and others, don’t know what the US objective is, especially if the Pentagon continues to push its request to Congress for more than US$200 billion to finance the war. Senator Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), an ally of the President, said on Fox News that he would tell Trump: “Keep it up for a few more weeks. Take Kharg Island, where all of the resources they have to produce oil. Control that island. Let this regime die on a vine.” Iran has used an array of convent...