Infrastructure Is a Weapon, Until It's Ours

The Gordie Howe International Bridge is finished. Its cables stretch across the Detroit River, its toll booths are operational, and Michigan's auto industry is waiting for the commerce it was built to carry. The bridge is not open. The president has blocked it — demanding the United States be fully compensated and own half the project — and the completed span sits idle while the two governments argue over who pays for it ^[1].

the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given. — Donald Trump

On July 23, the same president issued a standing order for the Strait of Hormuz. Any time Iran strikes a ship there, the United States will "bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran" ^[2].

From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran. — Donald Trump

Two bridges. One president. A completed American bridge he will not let open, and Iranian bridges he has ordered destroyed. The contradiction is not rhetorical — it is physical, measured in steel and concrete and the kilowatt-hours that move through transmission lines. The administration has made infrastructure the explicit currency of both its war doctrine and its domestic policy, and it assigns the same category of asset opposite values depending on which side of a border it sits on. The doctrine has been operational for months. In February, US airstrikes targeted bridges and rail lines across Iran, while Iran retaliated by striking power plants and desalination facilities in Gulf states ^[3]. In April, the president escalated, threatening to destroy all Iranian power plants — not selected ones, not military-adjacent ones, all of them ^[4]. US and Israeli forces struck 17,000 locations across Iran over a two-week campaign, including 3,600 bombs on Tehran ^[5]. They destroyed 70% of Iran's steel production capacity by hitting the Fajr 1 and Fajr 2 utility plants in Khuzestan ^[6]. Secretary of State Rubio described the policy as "a head for an eye" ^[7].

The president's policy is a head for an eye. — Marco Rubio

At home, the same category of assets — power plants, data centers, transmission lines — carries the opposite designation. In July 2025, the president signed an executive order labeling domestic data centers as critical national security infrastructure ^[8]. In his February State of the Union, he launched the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, declaring that Big Tech must "provide for their own power needs" and that prices for American communities "will not go up, but in many cases, will actually come down" ^[9].

It’s a big deal; it’s going to have a tremendous impact on electricity costs… Under this new agreement, Big Tech companies are committing to fully cover the cost of increased electricity production required for AI data centers — and that would mean prices for American communities will not go up, but in many cases, will actually come down. — Donald Trump

The administration is spending significant political capital to rescue more than 40 gigawatts of domestic coal power, framing it as essential to avert a "five-alarm fire" of grid blackouts ^[10]. A power plant in Ohio is a national security asset. A power plant in Khuzestan is a target. The war has not respected this distinction. The Strait of Hormuz closure removed 10.1 million barrels per day from global supply — the largest oil disruption in history ^[11]. Brent crude surged toward $100 a barrel. US mortgage rates climbed from below 6% to roughly 6.5%, driven by oil-fed inflation ^[12].

Until the war is resolved and oil prices settle back down, mortgage rates are going to remain elevated. — Melissa Cohn

European electricity prices rose 15 to 20%, with gas-dependent Italy seeing increases above 20% ^[13]. The IEA's Fatih Birol identified reopening the Strait as "the single most important variable in easing the pressure on energy supplies, prices and the global economy" ^[11]. The administration has been forced to patch the damage with the very tools it reserves for emergencies. In April, the president invoked the Defense Production Act to accelerate domestic energy production. The administration's own summary acknowledged the action was driven by rising consumer costs "exacerbated by a conflict involving the U.S., Israel, and Iran, which included a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports" ^[14].

Consistent with that declaration, I find that ensuring the domestic capability for development, manufacturing, and deployment of large-scale energy and energy-related infrastructure is essential to United States national defense, yet due to financing risks, regulatory delays, and market barriers, these cannot be met in full under existing market conditions. — Donald Trump

The Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been drained to its lowest level since 1983 — 349.2 million barrels, losing 8 to 10 million per week — with 66 million barrels tapped since March specifically to stabilize prices the war created ^[15]. The administration is burning its emergency reserves to offset a price crisis its own escalation set in motion. Iran has adopted the same logic in reverse. Parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf responded to the infrastructure strikes with a mirror doctrine ^[2].

If our security is not ensured, no infrastructure will be safe. — Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi issued a parallel warning, and Ghalibaf added that in a region where Iran cannot sell oil, no one will ^[7]. Iranian retaliatory strikes have already destroyed an Amazon data center in Bahrain — the same type of facility the president designated as critical national security infrastructure at home ^[7]. US-Israeli strikes on Iran's South Pars gas field, which supplies 70% of Iran's domestic gas, halted gas supplies to Iraq and removed 3,100 megawatts from the Iraqi power grid ^[16]. The US is destroying abroad the same category of energy infrastructure — gas-fired power supply — it is scrambling to protect at home. The domestic energy crisis has structural roots that predate the war. US residential electricity prices surged 33% over five years, driven by data center demand, aging infrastructure, and shortages of the transformers and turbines every new connection requires ^[17]. Ohio households are projected to pay $800 a month for electricity this summer — a 17% year-over-year increase ^[18]. The war did not create these pressures. It layered a new one on top of them, and the administration is now fighting a two-front energy crisis with one hand while the other keeps striking the match. The Gordie Howe Bridge remains blocked. The president has threatened it since February, delayed its opening in June, and blocked it again this month — even as toll operations launched — over a funding dispute with Canada ^[1]. A bridge that could carry commerce sits idle because the administration wants to be fully compensated. Bridges in Iran burn because the administration has made them military targets. The shield at home grows more expensive to maintain with every strike abroad, and Iran has adopted the same logic in reverse. The doctrine does not distinguish between the two uses. It has shown no interest in trying.