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Explanator
The Iranian legislator says that Tehran planning to close the navigable path, described as “the most important oil transit point”.
Iran plans to close the Hormuz StraitReported the Iranian news agency Irann, citing the main conservative legislator Esmail Kosari, while the conflict with Israel is intensifying.
This decision would allow oil prices to hover and risk extending the war. So what is the strategic navigable way and why is it vital for world trade?
Hormuz is the only marine entrance to the Persian Gulf. He divides Iran on one side and Oman and the United Arab Emirates on the other, and he connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the sea of Oman in the Indian Ocean.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, around 20% of world oil consumption crosses the Strait, that the agency describe Like “the most important oil transit point in the world”. At its narrowest point, it measures 33 km (21 miles) wide, but the shipping channels in the navigable track are even narrower, making them vulnerable to attacks and threats to be closed.
During the Iran-Iraq conflict between 1980 and 1988, which killed hundreds of thousands on both sides, the two countries targeted commercial ships in the Gulf in what has become the oil of the oil tankers, but Hormuz was never completely closed.
More recently, in 2019, four ships were attacked Near the Strait off the coast of Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates, in the midst of increased tensions between Iran and the United States during the first presidency of Donald Trump. Washington blamed Tehran for the incident, but Iran denied allegations.
Attacking shipping routes has long been used to apply the pressure in the middle of the conflicts. Since the start of the war in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen Attack ships Around the Strait of Bab Al-Mandeb, entry into the Red Sea on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.
Although the Houthi campaign has affected world trade, ships can avoid the Red Sea by sailing in Africa – a longer but safer trip. However, there is no way to send anything to the Gulf sea without going through Hormuz.
Even countries that do not import the essence of the Gulf countries would be affected if the strait should be closed because a major drop in supply would increase the price per barrel on the world market.
Despite the threat of the Iranian legislator, it is not clear if Iran has the capacity or the desire to close the strait.
Such a decision would almost certainly invoke reprisals from the United States, which has naval military assets in the region.
After Israel launched a wave of attacks across Iran early Friday, targeting military leaders, residential buildings, army bases and nuclear sites, Iran responded with hundreds of ballistic missiles.
Although the United States has helped to shoot Iranian missiles, Washington has not directly attacked Iran. US officials stressed that Washington was not involved in the Israeli strikes.
Tehran has also not targeted American troops or interests in the region.
The closure of Hormuz, however, would strike the Americans in the portfolio and could trigger a military response from Asset.
Although an Iranian move against the Strait is not imminent, Kosari’s comments underline that the attack on the shipping routes is a card that Tehran can play in the midst of hostilities.
In April 2024The Iranian armed forces seized a container container near the Hormuz Strait in the midst of increasing tensions through the region after a fatal Israeli attack against the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria. A limited Iranian strike on Israel in response was followed by an Israeli strike on Iran. At the time, they were the most serious direct military exchanges between the two enemies.
