In the Gulf of Mexico this week, federal agents boarded a commercial oil tanker bound for Texas after Iranian state media claimed that hackers had seized control of the vessel's propulsion systems — a disclosure that, if verified, would mark a new and troubling chapter in the long history of nations projecting power through unconventional means. The FBI and Coast Guard moved jointly, treating the matter as both a criminal investigation and a national security emergency. At stake is not merely one ship, but the broader question of whether the arteries of global commerce — the tankers and freigh