Iran’s top security organ – Supreme National Security Council – will make the final decision on whether to close Hormuz, Iranian TV said Sunday, after Parliament reportedly supported the measure in response to us strikes in several of Tehran’s nuclear places.
Iran has previously threatened to close the Sound, but has never followed through on the move, which would limit trade and affect global oil prices.
Below are details of the Sound:
What is the Hormuz Strait?
The strait lies between Oman and Iran and connects the Gulf north of it with the Bay of Oman to the south and the Arab Sea over.
It is 33 kilometers wide on the narrowest point, with shipping only 3 kilometers wide in both directions.
Why does that mean something?
About a fifth of the world’s total oil consumption passes through the strait. Between the start of 2022 and last month, somewhere between 17.8 million and 20.8 million barrels of raw, condensate and fuels flowed through the strait daily, showed data from the analysis company Vortexa.
OPEC members Saudi -Arabia, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq export most of their raw via the Sound, mainly to Asia. UAE and Saudi Arabia have tried to find other routes to bypass the Sound.
About 2.6 million barrels per Day (BPD) of unused capacity from existing UAE and Saudi pipelines could be available to bypass Hormuz, US Energy Information Administration said last June.
Qatar, among the world’s largest floating natural gas exporters, sends almost all of its LNG through the Sound.
The US fifth fleet, based in Bahrain, is tasked with protecting commercial shipping in the area.
History of tension
In 1973, Arab producers led by Saudi Arabia escaped an oil embargo on Western supporters of Israel in his war with Egypt.
While Western countries were the most important buyers of crude oil produced by the Arab countries at that time, Asia today is the largest buyer of OPEC’s crude oil.
The United States doubled more than its oil fluid production over the past two decades and has been transformed from the world’s largest oil importer to one of the best exporters.
During the Iran-Irak War 1980-1988, the two sides tried to interfere with each other’s exports in what was called the tank war.
In July 1988, an American warship shot down an Iranian airplane and killed all 290 on board, in what Washington said was an accident and Tehran said was a deliberate attack.
In January 2012, Iran threatened to block the Sound with retaliation for us and European sanctions. In May 2019, four vessels – including two Saudi oil tankers – were attacked from the UAE coast outside the Hormuz Strait.
Three vessels, two in 2023 and one in 2024, were seized by Iran near or in the Hormuz Strait. Some of the seizures followed us seizures of tankers related to Iran.
