The best Iranian security organization – the Supreme National Security Council – must make the final decision on the advisability of closing the Hormuz Strait, Iranian television said on Sunday, after parliament supported the measure in response to American strikes on several nuclear sites in Tehran.
Iran has in the past threatened to close the Strait but has never followed in moving, which would restrict trade and have an impact on world oil prices.
Here are the details on the Strait:
What is the Hormuz Strait?
The Strait is between Oman and Iran and connects the Gulf to the north with the Gulf of Oman in the south and the sea of Oman beyond.
It measures 33 kilometers wide at its narrowest point, with the shipping route, only 3 kilometers wide in both directions.
Why is it important?
About a fifth of the total oil consumption in the world goes through the Strait. Between the beginning of 2022 and last month, somewhere between 17.8 million and 20.8 million barrels in crude, condensates and fuel crossed the daily newspaper of the Strait, according to data from the analysis company, Vortexa.
OPEC members, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq export most of their brut via Strait, mainly in Asia. Saudi water and Arabia sought to find other routes to bypass the Strait.
About 2.6 million barrels per day (COPD) of unused capacity from existing water and Saudis pipelines could be available to bypass Hormuz, said US Energy Information Administration in June from last year.
Qatar, among the largest liquefied natural gas exporters in the world, sends almost all its LNGs to the Strait.
The fifth American fleet, based in Bahrain, is responsible for protecting commercial expedition to the region.
History of tensions
In 1973, Arab producers led by Saudi Arabia slapped an oil embargo on Western supporters of Israel in his war with Egypt.
While western countries were the main crude buyers produced by the Arab countries at the time, nowadays, Asia is the main buyer of OPEC.
The United States has more than doubled its production of oil liquids over the past two decades and have gone from the world’s largest oil importer to one of the best exporters.
During the War of Iran-Iraq 1980-1988, the two parties sought to disrupt the exports of the other in what was called the oil of the oilers.
In July 1988, an American warship fell an Iranian airliner, killing the 290 on board, in what Washington said he was an accident and Téhéran said he was a deliberate attack.
In January 2012, Iran threatened to block the Strait in retaliation for American and European sanctions. In May 2019, four ships – including two Saudi oil tankers – were attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, outside the Hormuz Strait.
Three ships, two in 2023 and one in 2024, were seized by Iran near or in the Strait of Hormuz. Some of the crises followed the American convulsions of oil tankers linked to Iran.
