The Israeli aerial bombardment led to the elimination of a large part of Iran’s ballistic missile capacity and the beheading of its military leadership. The American bombing of Iranian nuclear reactors came to pour oil on the fire.
He was the highest guide Ali Khamenei You have vowed US “With unorganized damage” if she interferes in the conflict in support of her ally.
According to an explanation of the American Bloomberg News Agency, this statement is the smartest speculation that the Iranian leadership may resort to another way to curb its enemies, which is to close the Strait of Hormuz in front of or actually close navigation.
In this article, the strategic expert in the field of oil, Julian Lee, explained that almost a quarter of the global oil trade passes through this narrow waterway at the entrance to the Gulf, and if Iran is prevented without the arrival of giant tankers that transport oil and gas to China Europe and other main areas of energy, to the Gulf waters, this will lead to huge and rapidly high oil prices and possibly destabilizing the global economy.
And he chose me 5 questions to explain the importance of this strait, and with its closing:
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Where is the Strait of Hormuz?
This waterway links the Gulf to the Indian Ocean, where Iran is located in the north, the United Arab Emirates and the southern Oman.
Its length is 161 km and its width is approximately 32 km in the narrowest point in it, as the width of the navigational corridors in each direction is 3 km and more.
However, its shallow depths make the ships whose mortality is vulnerable to mines, and its proximity to land – and Iran in particular – makes the ships face the danger of missiles that start from beaches or objection by patrol boats and helicopters.
It reflects the importance of the Strait of Hormuz that the giant ships were transferred through it in 2024 alone, nearly 16.5 million barrels per day of crude oil and condensate from Saudi Arabia And Iraq Kuwait, the UAE and Iran, according to the data collected by Bloomberg. Also, more than one fifth of the global supplies -most of them The State of Qatar– I crossed through it in the same period.
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Can Iran already close the Strait of Hormuz?
The strategic expert confirms in his article that Iran does not have the legal right to stop traffic through the strait, so it requires it to use or wave force to do so.
If its naval forces try to prevent entry to the strait, it is likely that they face a strong response from the American Fifth Fleet and other Western Navy that are patrolling in the region, which may make navigation in it risky for commercial ships that may be ventured to pass through.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz would cause rapid damage to Iran’s economy itself, as this will prevent it from exporting its oil.
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Have Iran have ever hindered the movement of marine shipping?
The article provides cases where ships in the Gulf have been harassed by Iran in the past decades. In April 2024, he was detained Iranian Revolutionary Guard Container ship connected In Israel Near the strait, before hours of launching an attack by a drone plane on the occupation state.
It was also held Iran In April 2023 an American oil tanker claimed that it collided with another ship, and two Greek oil transmission in May 2022 for 6 months before their release.
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Did Iran close the Strait of Hormuz before?
According to Bloomberg, this has not yet happened.
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What countries are the most dependent on the Strait of Hormuz?
Most of the countries that depend on the strait to export their oil are those of it. Saudi Arabia is exported through most of the oil, but it can convert its shipments to Europe using a pipeline of approximately 1200 km across the Kingdom to a station on the Red Sea, which allows it to avoid each of Hormuz Strait And south Red Sea.
The UAE can export some of its raw oil without relying on the strait, by sending 1.5 million barrels per day through a pipeline from its oil fields to the port of Fujairah on the Gulf Oman South of Hormuz.
With the closure of the oil pipeline heading to the Mediterranean, Iraq is currently dependent on exporting all its oil shipments significantly on the Strait of Hormuz.
As for Kuwait And diameter Bahrain has no choice but to charge its oil through the waterway, while Iran also depends on it entirely.