Strait of Hormuz Becomes Flashpoint in US-Iran Tensions

Strait of Hormuz – (Web Desk) – The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important oil transit routes and has often featured in regional power politics. Over the years, Iran has used the threat of closing this narrow waterway as leverage during periods of heightened tension. In late January, a senior commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps again warned that the strait could be shut if Iran were attacked. The remarks came after US President Donald Trump cautioned that military action remained an option if Tehran refused to agree to limits on its nuclear programme.

Although Iranian officials have repeatedly signaled the possibility of a blockade, the country has never fully closed the strait. It has, however, temporarily restricted parts of it for what it described as safety reasons during military exercises.

Geographically, the Strait of Hormuz connects the Gulf to the Indian Ocean. It lies between Iran and Oman’s Musandam peninsula, a small exclave separated from the rest of Oman. The channel is relatively narrow — about 50 kilometres (30 miles) wide — and shallow, reaching depths of roughly 60 metres (200 feet). These features make it strategically sensitive and potentially vulnerable during any military confrontation.

Scattered across the strait are several small and mostly uninhabited islands that hold significant strategic value. Among them are Iran’s islands of Hormuz, Qeshm, and Larak. There are also the disputed islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, and Abu Mussa, located between Iran and the United Arab Emirates. These islands have been under Iranian control since 1971 and offer a commanding position overlooking shipping lanes in the Gulf.

The strait is a vital corridor connecting the oil-rich Gulf with markets in Asia, Europe, North America and elsewhere.

According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), the Strait of Hormuz is “one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints”.

About one-fifth of global oil and petroleum product consumption flows through the strait, averaging 20 million barrels per day in 2024, according to the EIA.

Around one-fifth of global liquefied natural gas trade also transited the Strait of Hormuz in 2024, primarily from Qatar, it said.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have infrastructure to bypass the strait, potentially mitigating disruption, but their transit capacity remains very limited — around 2.6 million barrels a day.

“Large volumes of oil flow through the strait, and very few alternative options exist to move oil out of the strait if it is closed,” the EIA warned.

More than 80% of the oil and gas moving through the strait is destined for markets in Asia, according to the EIA.

China, a key backer of Tehran, buys more than 90% of Iran’s oil exports, according to the analysis firm Kpler.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the ideological arm of the Islamic republic’s military, controls naval operations in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran has repeatedly criticised the presence of foreign powers in the region — home to the US Fifth Fleet in Bahrain and the Middle East’s largest US base in Qatar.

In 2023, Western naval forces operating in the Gulf warned ships sailing in the strait against approaching Iranian waters to avoid the risk of seizure.

There have been a series of such incidents since 2018, when US president Donald Trump pulled out of a landmark nuclear deal with Iran and reimposed crippling sanctions on the Islamic republic, sending tensions soaring.

Oil transit was disrupted in 1984 during the Iran-Iraq War when both sides attacked each other’s shipping, damaging or destroying more than 500 vessels in the so-called “Tanker War”.

And after Tehran land mines in the strait, the frigate USS Samuel B. Roberts struck one in April of 1988 and nearly sank.

In July of that year, an Iran Air Airbus A300 flying the Bandar Abbas-Dubai route was shot down by two missiles fired from a US frigate, killing 290 people.

The crew of the USS Vincennes said it had mistaken the airliner for an Iranian fighter jet with hostile intent.

The Strait of Hormuz is frequently the scene of ship seizures and attacks.

Incidents multiplied after the United States withdrew in 2018 from the international agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme.

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In 2019, unclaimed attacks on ships in the Gulf region, a downed drone and seized tankers raised fears of an escalation between Tehran and Washington.

On July 29, 2021, an attack in the Gulf of Oman on a tanker operated by a company owned by an Israeli billionaire killed two people. Israel, the United States, Britain and Romania accused Tehran, which denied any involvement.

In April 2024, the Revolutionary Guards seized the Portuguese-flagged container ship MSC Aries, accusing its owner of being “linked to Israel”.

In early February, a US-flagged tanker was approached and challenged by Iranian gunboats in the strait, before continuing on its way, US Central Command said.