What Is the Strait of Hormuz, and Why Is It Important?

New York Times

4 hours ago

One way that Iran could potentially retaliate for the American strikes on three of its nuclear sites, analysts say, would be to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route for oil and gas.
In meetings at the White House, senior military officials have raised the need to prepare for that possibility, after Iranian officials threatened to mine the strait, a narrow 90-mile waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. Such a move could pin any U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf, American military officials say.
In more than a week of fighting between Israel and Iran, Israel's military has steered clear of hitting Iranian naval assets. So while Iran's ability to respond to attacks has been severely damaged, it has a robust navy and maintains operatives across the region, where the United States has more than 40,000 troops. Iran also has an array of mines that its navy could lay in the Strait of Hormuz, which hugs a portion of Iran's southern border.
A quarter of the world's oil and 20 percent of the world's liquefied natural gas passes through the Strait of Hormuz, so mining the choke point would cause oil and gas prices to soar. The majority of those fuels go to Asia, meaning that countries there would most likely be severely affected by any closure. The United States and other countries would feel the effects in the form of higher energy costs.
Closing the waterway could isolate American minesweepers in the Persian Gulf on one side of the strait. Two defense officials indicated that the Navy was looking to disperse its ships in the gulf so that they would be less vulnerable. A Navy official declined to comment, citing operational security. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Even before the U.S. military struck Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend, Iran vowed that it would respond forcefully to any attack by American forces — potentially setting off a cycle of escalation. Since the strikes, Iran appears to be weighing its options.
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