TEHRAN – Iranian artist Mohammad Hossein Niroomand has compared US military presence in the Persian Gulf during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump by publishing his new cartoon about Trump’s impasse in the Strait of Hormuz and reposting an older cartoon in Kayhan newspaper.

“It seems that time repeats itself. I designed an illustration back then for Reagan’s ominous presence in the Persian Gulf, which was printed in Kayhan. At that time, the issue of closing the Strait of Hormuz was raised as well. But today, Donald Trump is truly trapped in the Strait,” he wrote about his works.

When the Tanker War escalated in 1987 in the Persian Gulf, Kuwait asked the United States to escort its oil tankers. On August 22, 1987, the first convoy of escorted tankers, ordered by thenPresident Ronald Reagan, began its mission to escort two Kuwaiti vessels along a 600mile route. One of the tankers to be escorted, the Kuwaiti ship Bridgeton, which sailed under the US flag, struck a naval mine near Kuwait in full view of hundreds of reporters, Mehr reported.

“I drew this cartoon during those days about Ronald Reagan’s entry into the Iran–Iraq War’s oiltanker conflict, and it was published in Kayhan,” Niroomand added.

The Tanker War was a major phase of the 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War. It involved both Iran and Iraq attacking oil tankers and merchant ships in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz to disrupt each other’s oil exports.

Several Persian Gulf states, especially Kuwait, sought foreign naval protection, leading to the involvement of the United States, the Soviet Union, and Western European navies.

After about four decades, now the Strait has become the center of attention in another conflict. The US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Shortly after the war began, Iran effectively asserted control over the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints, closing the narrow waterway through which a fifth of global oil passes.

On April 13, Donald Trump imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports in an effort to force Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. However, Iran has adopted a firm stance on keeping the Strait closed. 

Since the outset of the joint US–Israel war on Iran on February 28, Iran has not allowed vessels affiliated with adversaries to pass through the strategic waterway.

Trump’s decisions have drawn fierce criticism at home and abroad, with many warning it risks igniting a broader regional crisis and destabilizing the global economy.

SS/