On Saturday, by Ukrainian and Iranian accounts, Ukrainian drones struck an Iranian cargo ship, named by Tehran as the Anna, and a Russian warship operating alongside it. Since July 6, Ukraine has closed the Sea of Azov the way Iran once threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz — not with a fleet, but by making passage unaffordable. The same Ukraine that is mining Russia’s supply routes in the Caspian has offered NATO-certified minesweepers to help reopen Hormuz for the West. And this week, its president was in Washington, naming anti-ballistic defense and strategic cooperation with America his top priority. Washington now reads that clause the way it reads the rest of the building: as a courtesy that it may withhold.