> The US could/can, they're just not willing to undergo the mass casualties it would take to put boots on the ground

It doesn’t matter what the reason, if you can’t do something you can’t do it.

US military ain't some unstoppable force in all possible scenarios, it was stopped and won over quite a few times, last time I recall by taliban sheepherders. In some cases like first Iraq war yes, but they don't wage those wars anymore. And all mental limits re casualties are very real limits just like other.

Its like saying russia could/can conquer whole Europe, if only X, Y and Z. That effectively means they can't, as we see playing out right now despite them trying desperately to achieve this very thing.

If you cannot afford doing it, then you cannot do it. What's the purpose of having the capability to do something if you cannot afford the losses of doing it?

This is just a different way if saying that we can't.

So effectively, there is no military hegemony, as the U.S. cannot afford the costs of using it.

Why doesn't the US government just insure them itself then? A quarter of a billion dollars is a major risk to an insurance company with no internal capacity to mitigate the risk itself, but it's not even a rounding error in the federal budget and the US government would then be expressing confidence in the ability of its own military to ensure safe passage.

And even if they had to pay a claim, it would cost the population less than the higher gas prices, since increasing supply lowers the market price for all supply, not just the incremental units.

> Because it would require a boots on the ground invasion to occupy the entire portion of Iran overlooking the Strait.

Which even the morons who started this conflict know is suicidal because Iran has literally at least a million loyal fanatics (Basij, the same organisation doing unarmed meat waves against Iraq)!ready to die for the regime, and the terrain is in their favour.

So that's not military hegemony.

But the difference between Vietnam and Iran is that Trump had a plan to get out of Vietnam.