Strait of Hormuz could be vulnerable to Iran retaliation. Here’s what to know about the vital oil trade route.

The United States has launched military strikes on three Iranian nuclear installations on Sunday morning, an action, president of President Trump said aimed to neutralize a threat “Posed by the sponsor of terror of the number one state in the world.” It was largely considered to be a turning point in the involvement of America in the ongoing conflicts of the Middle East as the first direct intervention of the American forces in the war between Israel and Iran.

The strikes have triggered concerns concerning the possible Iranian reprisals and the form of such responses. Among them, Iran fears could block oil exports through the Hormuz Strait, a large commercial commercial passage that the country controls in part.

What is the Hormuz Strait, and why is it important?

Located between Oman and Iran, the Hormuz Strait connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the sea of ​​Oman and at its narrowest point, it is only 21 miles wide. Water, a crucial element of global commercial infrastructure, facilitates the transit of millions of barrels of petroleum and oil products per day, according to In energy Information Administration, or EIA, a branch of the American Department of Energy.

Iran controls the north side of the Strait, which runs along its border, and Oman and the United Arab Emirates control the southern side.

For this reason, the Strait has become one of the most vital “strangulation points” in the world, say the American energy officials. An analysis published last week by the EIA defined strangulation points as “narrow channels along the widely used global maritime routes which are essential to global energy safety”, which can increase shipping costs and lead to food delays if the passage through them is disrupted.

Iran has long used the threat of closing the strait to keep Western pressure away.

What products are going through the Strait?

In 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, more than a quarter of world maritime oil trade crossed the Hormuz Strait, about a fifth of oil and oil consumption worldwide, according to EIA.

The agency estimated that around 20 million barrels of oil have transformed the Daily Daily since at least 2020, the monitoring data of oil tankers indicating almost 40% of barrels last year were exported from Saudi Arabia – most of all countries. In addition to crude and petroleum products, the Strait also granted around a fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas trade in 2024, which came mainly from Qatar, EIA said.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have oil pipelines which, to some extent, could serve as alternative trade routes if the Hormuz Strait is compromised, but their relative capacities would be limited. The EIA noted that the disturbances of the flow of oil in the Strait would have had an impact on a few markets, such as China, India, Japan and South Korea, which imported the majority of oil and gas which transferred it in 2024. In the United States, the agency indicated that oil imports through the Hormuz strait only represented 7% of the same period of the country and of its consumption of liquid oil.

However, managers warn that any interference with oil flows in the Strait could largely disrupt the international energy markets and economies, stifling the offer and possibly an increase in oil and gas prices.

“A suicidal movement”

Speaking of what Iran could do next, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday “Faced with the nation with Margaret Brennan” That an Iranian effort to block the strait “would be a suicidal decision”, probably causing a counterpoup to a group of powerful countries that would be affected by this type of decision.

“If they do it, the first people who should be angry about it are the Chinese government, because a large part of their oil gets there,” said Rubio, when asked for the possibility of extracting Iranian or preventing movements in the Strait. “Mining” involves placing naval mines – which are explosives – in water to damage ships trying to pass.

If that should happen, Rubio said that China “would pay a huge price”, as “all the other countries in the world would do”, including the United States

“It will have a certain impact on us. It will have much more impact on the rest of the world,” he said, hypothetically, consequences. “It would be a suicidal movement on their part because, I think, the world would come against them if they did it.”

The United States, with its 5th fleet stationed in Bahrain, has long undertaken to maintain freedom of navigation in the Strait.