What is the Strait of Hormuz and why does it matter?

There are considerable speculations that Iran could fight back for American strikes on its nuclear installations by closing the world’s most frequented oil channel, the Hormuz Strait.

About 20% of world oil and gas crosses this narrow shipping route in the Gulf. The blocking would have deep consequences for the global economy, disturbing international trade and increases oil prices.

It could also inflate the cost of goods and services in the world and strike some of the world’s largest economies, including China, India and Japan, which are among the main crude oil importers crossing the Strait.

The Hormuz Strait is one of the most important shipping routes in the world and its most vital oil transit point.

Lou limited to the north by Iran and to the south by Oman and the United Arab Emirates (water), the corridor – which is only 50 km wide at its entrance and its exit, and about 33 km wide at its narrowest point – links the Gulf to the sea of ​​Oman.

The Strait is deep enough for the largest crude oil oil tankers in the world and is used by the main oil and gas producers in the Middle East – and their customers.

In the first half of 2023, around 20 million barrels of oil crossed the Hormuz Strait per day, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates – nearly $ 600 billion in energy trade per year.

This oil comes not only from Iran, but also from other Gulf states such as Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The former head of the UK intelligence agency, MI6, SIR Alex Younger, told the BBC that his worst case in the Iran-Israeli conflict in progress included a blockade on the Hormuz Strait.

“The closure of the Strait would obviously be an incredible economic problem given the effect it would have on the price of oil,” he said.

It would be “unexplored field”, according to Bader al-Saif, assistant professor at the University of Kuwait who specializes in geopolitics of the Arab peninsula.

“This would have direct consequences on the world markets, because you will take an increase in the price of oil, [and] You will see the stock markets react very nervously to what is happening, “Al-Saif told BBC Newshour.

This would of course harm the Gulf countries whose savings are strongly based on energy exports.

Saudi Arabia, for example, uses the strait to export around 6 million barrels of crude oil per day – more than any neighboring country – according to research from the Vortexa analysis company.

Iran, in comparison, exports approximately 1.7 million barrels per day, according to the International Energy Agency. Iran has exported $ 67 billion in oil during the fiscal year in March 2025 – its highest oil revenues in the last decade – according to estimates by the Iran central bank.

Asia would also be touched. In 2022, around 82% of crude oil and condensates (liquid low density hydrocarbons which generally occur with natural gas) leaving the Hormuz Strait was intended for Asian countries, according to EIA estimates.

It is estimated to buy around 90% of the oil alone that Iran exports to the world market.

All disturbances to this could increase fuel and production costs at a time when China must count on manufacturing and exports. It is not only a domestic problem either: the increase in manufacturing costs could possibly be reflected in consumers, fueling inflation in the world.

The impact could also be disproportionate for other key Asian savings, which are among the largest importers, after China. Almost half of India’s crude oil and 60% of its natural gas imports go through the Hormuz Strait. South Korea would have 60% of its crude oil in the Strait and Japan almost three -quarters.

The rules of the United Nations allow countries to exercise control up to 12 naval miles (13.8 miles) of their coast.

This means that at its narrowest point, the Hormuz Strait and its shipping routes are entirely found in the territorial waters of Iran and Oman.

If Iran should try to block the 3,000 ships navigating in the Strait each month, one of the most effective ways to do so, according to experts, would be to put mines using attack boats and fast submarines.

The regular navy of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) could potentially launch attacks on foreign warships and commercial ships.

However, large military ships can in turn become easy targets for American air strikes.

Iran’s rapid boats are often armed with anti-ship missiles, and the country also operates a range of surface ships, semi-submersible crafts and submarines.

Experts say that Iran could temporarily block the strait, but many are just as convinced that the United States and its allies could quickly restore the flow of maritime traffic by military means.

The United States has already done so.

In the late 1980s, during the Iran-Iraq eight-year war, strikes on oil facilities turned into an “oil war” which saw the two countries attacking neutral ships to exert economic pressure.

Kuwaiti oilmen with Iraqi oil were particularly vulnerable – and finally, US warships began to escort them in the Gulf in what has become the largest naval convoy operation since the Second World War.

While Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Hormuz Strait in past conflicts, it has never followed.

Perhaps the closest call was during the war of the oilmen of the late 1980s – but even then, the expedition to the Hormuz Strait has never been seriously disrupted.

If Iran expresses its threat, this time could be different.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iran’s closure at Hormuz Strait would represent “economic suicide” and called China, an ally of Tehran, to intervene.

“I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them [Iran] On this subject, because they depend strongly on the Hormuz Strait for their oil, “said Rubio in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

“We keep options to face it, but other countries should also examine this.

Although China has not yet answered, Beijing is very little likely to accommodate any increase in oil prices or disturbances on shipping routes, and could take advantage of its diplomatic weight to dissuade the Iranian government to go ahead with the blockade.

Energy analyst Vandana Hari said that Iran had “little to gain and too much to lose” the closure of the strait.

“Iran is likely to transform its neighbors producing oil and gas into the Gulf into enemies and to invoke the anger of its key market in China by disturbing traffic in the Strait,” Hari in BBC News told.

The persistent threat of the closure of the Hormuz Strait has, over the years, incited the oil exhibiting countries in the Gulf region to develop alternative export paths.

According to an EIA report, Saudi Arabia has activated its East-West pipeline, a 1,200 km long line capable of transporting up to 5 m of crude oil barrels per day.

In 2019, Saudi Arabia temporarily reused a gas pipeline to transport crude oil.

The United Arab Emirates have connected its interior oil fields to the port of Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman via a pipeline with a daily capacity of 1.5 million barrels.

In July 2021, Iran inaugurated the Goreh-Jask pipeline, intended to move crude oil in the Gulf of Oman. This pipeline can currently transport around 350,000 barrels per day – although the reports suggest that Iran does not yet.

The EIA estimates that these alternative routes could collectively manage around 3.5 million barrels of oil per day – around 15% of the gross currently shipped in the Strait.