In an analysis titled “70 Years After the Suez Crisis: America Discovers the Limits of Its Power,” published by US magazine Newsweek, David Avery argues that the United States is now facing its own struggle over another vital waterway, the Strait of Hormuz, seven decades after the Suez Crisis exposed the limits of British and French power.
اضافة اعلان
Avery recalls that on November 6, 1956, British and French forces were advancing towards Port Said, the Egyptian city guarding the entrance to one of the world's most important waterways. A day earlier, their paratroopers had landed to seize the Suez Canal, while Israeli forces advanced across the Sinai Peninsula to help clear the way.
By midnight, the coalition's offensive had come to a halt, not because its troops had been defeated on the battlefield, but because the governments leading them were forced to back down under pressure from Washington.
At the time, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower threatened to inflict serious damage on Britain's already weakened economy and mobilised the United Nations to demand a ceasefire and withdrawal.
America's economic and political influence achieved within hours what Egyptian armed resistance had been unable to accomplish, bringing the tripartite military campaign to a humiliating halt.
Seventy years later, the United States finds itself embroiled in its own conflict over another vital waterway: the Strait of Hormuz. Washington is now facing the same harsh lessons it once taught its European allies, but this time the economic and political damage has been self-inflicted.
The analysis revisits the historical lessons of the 1956 Suez Crisis, when Eisenhower used financial and diplomatic pressure to stop the tripartite aggression against Egypt following President Gamal Abdel Nasser's nationalisation of the Suez Canal. His intervention forced Britain and France to withdraw and ultimately marked the decline of London's role as a global superpower.
Seven decades later, Avery argues, Donald Trump is repeating a similar scenario for the United States through the war against Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The conflict has demonstrated that military superiority alone is insufficient to force adversaries into submission or shield an economy from the consequences of war and rising energy costs.
The analysis also highlights the domestic political and economic consequences. Disruptions to maritime traffic have fuelled inflation and increased the cost-of-living burden on American households, developments that have clearly affected the US midterm election results, with Democrats winning congressional seats amid public dissatisfaction with the attack on Iran.
An Associated Press poll found that six in ten voters considered the decision to attack Iran wrong, while the rising cost of living had an even greater influence on their voting choices.
The writer also points to America's growing isolation and the absence of strong alliances under Trump, contrasting this with Eisenhower, who successfully mobilised the United Nations and international diplomacy. Eisenhower did not rely solely on financial pressure; he also rallied the United Nations against the invasion.
After Britain and France used their vetoes in the UN Security Council, Washington referred the issue to the General Assembly, which called for a ceasefire and withdrawal. Negotiations eventually led to the establishment of the first United Nations peacekeeping force, which oversaw the withdrawal and monitored the Egyptian-Israeli border.
Israel completed its withdrawal in March 1957, and the canal reopened the following month. Eisenhower recognised that combining economic leverage, international institutions and diplomacy could achieve influence far beyond what military force alone could deliver.
In contrast, Avery concludes that Trump's policies have deepened divisions with European allies and prompted them to disregard calls for military participation, leaving the US administration increasingly isolated. The situation has reinforced the lesson that unilateral military power is not enough to achieve strategic objectives.
