Bypass the Strait of Hormuz with nuclear explosives? The US studied that in Panama and Colombia in the 1960s

The United States explored nuclear blasts to create alternative shipping routes in 1960s

By Christine Keiner, Rochester Institute of TechnologyWith the world struggling to get oil supplies moving from the Middle East, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich raised eyebrows with a social media post highlighting a radical idea: Use nuclear bombs to cut a new channel along a route that would av...

Bypass Hormuz With Nuclear Explosives? US Studied That In Panama In 1960s

The idea for a new canal to move oil from the Middle East had emerged two decades earlier, in the context of another Middle East conflict, the Suez crisis.

Bypass the Strait of Hormuz with nuclear explosives? The US studied that in Panama and Colombia in the 1960s

For decades, the US seriously pursued the idea of ‘peaceful nuclear explosions.’

Bypass the Strait of Hormuz with nuclear explosives? The US studied that in Panama and Colombia in the 1960s

by Christine Keiner, Rochester Institute of Technology, [This article first appeared in The Conversation, republished with permission] With the world struggling to get oil supplies moving from the Middle East, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich raised eyebrows with a social media post highlighting a radical idea: Use nuclear bombs to cut a new channel along a route that would avoid Iranian threats in the Strait of Hormuz. Gingrich’s March 15, 20…