In the last decade, the humble Strait of Hormuz has seen a fifth of the world’s oil supply, a third of all liquefied natural gas (LNG), and a third of all seaborne imports and exports in the world pass through its narrow waters. The oil tanker-choked passage is located in a strategic and geopolitical hotspot between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, linking the Persian Gulf on the west side to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea on the southeast end. Many OPEC nations rely on the Strait for nearly all of their oil exports, and the world’s largest LNG exporter, Qatar, relies on the waterway for nearly all of its gas trade. The entire strait, upon which the global trade economy hinges, is a mere 35 to 60 miles (55 to 95 km) wide. It’s a precarious situation: the closure of this one essential passage in the […]