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

There is great speculation that Iran may be divided due to the US strikes on its nuclear facilities by closing the most crowded oil channel in the world, which is the Strait of Hormuz.

About 20 % of the global oil and gas flows via the narrow shipping lane in the Gulf. It would prevent him from having profound consequences for the global economy, which leads to disrupting international trade and increasing oil prices.

It can also exaggerate the cost of goods and services all over the world, and strike some of the world’s largest economies, including China, India and Japan, which is among the best crude oil importers that pass through the strait.

Hormuz is one of the most important shipping methods in the world, and the most prominent oil transportation point.

The corridor – the corridor – which is about 50 km (31 km) is connected to its entrance and its exit, and the corridor – which is about 50 km (31 km) connects it at its entrance and its exit, and its width is about 33 km in its narrowest narrower – about 50 km (31 miles) at its entrance and its exit, and its width is about 33 km in its narrowest points.

The strait is deep enough for the largest crude 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, about 20 million barrels of oil passed through the hormone strait daily, according to the estimates of the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) – with a value of about $ 600 billion (448 billion pounds) of energy energy annually.

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

Sir Alex Young, former president of the UK Intelligence Agency, told the BBC in his worst scenario in the ongoing conflict in Iran and Israel that included stakes on the Strait of Hormuz.

“It is clear that closing the strait will be an incredible economic problem due to the impact that the oil price will achieve,” he said.

It will be the “non -engraved terrain”, according to the summer, an assistant professor at Kuwait University specializing in political geography in the Arabian Peninsula.

“It will have direct consequences on the global markets, because you will consider a rise in the price of oil, [and] The summer told the stock markets interacting nervously with what is happening. “

Of course, the Gulf states whose economies are highly dependent on energy exports will be hurt.

For example, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia uses the strait to export about 6 million barrels of crude oil per day – more than any neighboring country – according to the research conducted by the analysis company Vortexa.

Iran, in comparison, issues about 1.7 million barrels per day, according to the International Energy Agency. Iran has exported $ 67 billion in oil in the fiscal year ending in March 2025 – its highest oil revenues in the past decade – according to the estimates of the Iranian Central Bank.

Asia will also be hurt. In 2022, it was about 82 % of crude oil and condensate (low -density liquid hydrocarbons that usually occurs with natural gas), leaving the hormone strait of Asian countries, according to EIA estimates.

It is estimated that China will buy about 90 % of Iran’s oil to the global market.

Any disturbances in this can increase fuel and production costs at a time when China is forced to rely on manufacturing and exports. This is not just a local problem, either: the high manufacturing costs can be transferred to consumers at the end, which leads to supplying inflation around the world.

The effect can also be large in other major Asian economies, which are among the largest importers, after China. Almost half of the crude oil in India and 60 % of natural gas imports pass through the hormonal strait. According to South Korea received 60 % of crude oil through the strait, and Japan is nearly three quarters.

The United Nations bases for countries allow control of up to 12 nautical miles (13.8 miles) of its coast.

This means that in the narrowest point, the Strait of Hermoz and the Full Cross Currents lies in the waters of Iran and the phases of Oman.

If Iran will try to prevent 3000 ships or so that sail across the strait every month, then one of the most effective ways to do this, according to experts, will be putting mines using rapid attack boats and submarines.

The ordinary Iranian naval and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) can launch attacks on foreign warships and commercial ships.

However, large military ships in turn may become easy targets for US air strikes.

Fast boats in Iran are often armed with anti -ship missiles, and the country also runs a set of superficial vessels, crafts and semi -familiar submarines.

Experts say that Iran can temporarily prevent the strait, but many of them are equally confident that the United States and its allies can re -establish the flow of marine traffic through military means.

The United States has done this before.

In the late eighties of the last century, during the eight years of Iran and Iraq war, strikes on oil facilities escalated into a “carrier war” that witnessed both countries attacking neutral ships to exercise economic pressure.

The Kuwaiti tankers carrying Iraqi oil were especially at risk – and in the end, American warships began accompanying them across the Gulf, while it became the largest marine convoy since World War II.

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

Perhaps the closest call during the carrier war in the late eighties – but until then, the shipping has not been disabled through the hormonal strait seriously.

If Iran reaches its threat, this time it may be different.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed that Iran for the Strait of Hormuz will be “economic suicide”, China called Tehran’s ally to intervene.

“I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to contact them [Iran] “Because they are heavily dependent on the Strait of Hormuz for their Ziouz,” Rubio said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

“We keep options to deal with it, but other countries should also consider it. The economies of other countries will harm much worse than our ideas.”

Although China has not yet responded, it is unlikely that Beijing will welcome any increase in oil prices or disturbances in shipping routes, and can benefit from its diplomatic weight for two Iranian government to move forward.

Energy analyst Vandana Harry said Iran has a “little to gain and lose it” from closing the strait.

“Iran is risked by turning oil and gas producing neighbors into enemies and calling for the anger of its main market China by disrupting traffic in the strait,” Harry told BBC News.

The constant threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, over the years, has led to countries that export oil in the Gulf region to develop alternative export methods.

According to the environmental impact assessment report, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has activated its pipeline from east and west, a 1200 -km line capable of transporting up to 5 million barrels of crude oil per day.

In 2019, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia temporarily restored a natural gas pipeline to carry crude oil.

The United Arab Emirates has linked its internal oil fields to the port of Fujira on the Gulf of Amman through a pipeline with a daily capacity of 1.5 million barrels.

In July 2021, Iran opened the Gure -Growth pipeline, aimed at transporting crude oil to the Gulf of Oman. This pipeline can currently carry about 350,000 barrels per day – although reports indicate that Iran has not yet.

The environmental impact assessment estimates that these alternative methods can collectively deal around 3.5 million barrels of oil per day – approximately 15 % of crude that is currently shipped across the strait.