The main security agency of Iran, the Supreme National Security Council, must make the final decision on whether to close the hormuz narrow, Iranian television said on Sunday, after the Parliament supports the measure in response to US attacks in several of Tehran’s nuclear sites.
In the past, Iran threatened to close the Strait, but has never followed the movement, which would restrict trade and impact world oil prices.
Below are details about the Strait:
What is the Hortuz Strait?
The Strait is between Oman and Iran and links the Gulf to the north of him with the Gulf of Oman to the south and the Arabic sea beyond.
It has 33 kilometers wide at its narrowest point, with the shipping lane with only 3 kilometers wide in any direction.
Why does it matter?
Around a fifth of the world’s total oil consumption passes through the Strait. Between the beginning of 2022 and last month, somewhere between 17.8 million and 20.8 million barrels of crude oil, condensate and fuels flowed through the Diario Strait, according to the data of the Vortexa analysis firm.
The members of the OPEC Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq export most of their crude oil through the Strait, mainly to Asia. The EAU and Saudi Arabia have tried to find other routes to avoid the Strait.
Around 2.6 million barrels per day (BPD) of unused capacity of existing EAUs and Saudi pipes could be available to avoid Hormuz, said the United States Energy Information Administration in June last year.
Qatar, among the largest liquefied natural gas exporters in the world, sends almost all its LNG through the Strait.
The fifth fleet of the United States, based in Bahrain, has the task of protecting commercial shipment in the area.
Tensions history
In 1973, Arab producers led by Saudi Arabia slapped an oil embargo on the western supporters of Israel in their war with Egypt.
While Western countries were the main buyers of crude oil produced by Arab countries at that time, today Asia is the main buyer of the OPEC oil.
The United States doubled more than its production of oil fluids in the last two decades and has become the largest oil importer in the world to one of the main exporters.
During the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988, the two parties sought to interrupt the exports of others in what was called the Oil War.
In July 1988, an American war ship knocked an Iranian plane, killing at 290 on board, in what Washington said it was an accident and Tehran said it was a deliberate attack.
In January 2012, Iran threatened to block the Strait in retaliation for US and European sanctions. In May 2019, four vessels, including two Saudi oil tankers, were attacked on the EAU coast, outside the hormuz narrow.
Three ships, two in 2023 and one in 2024, were seized by Iran near or in the hormuz narrow. Some of the seizures followed the convulsions of the oil tankers related to Iran.
