, Columnist
The Chokepoint Economy Starts With Hormuz
The looming shore at Hormuz.
Photographer: Sahar al Attar/AFP/Getty Images
The confrontation between the US and Iran has bogged down into a tale of dueling blockades. The US military is enforcing a comprehensive blockade of Iran’s roughly 1,000 miles of southern coastline along the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, including the critical Strait of Hormuz. Iran, in turn, has restricted traffic on its side of the narrow waterway, allowing only a small trickle of commercial vessels to transit — and charging tolls to those permitted through.
In normal times, about one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas flows through Hormuz. Now, hundreds of ships are loitering nearby, stranded by political brinkmanship with global economic consequences.