(Dubai) The Strait of Ormuz is a key passage for world oil trade, which Iran has often threatened to block in crisis situations.
Iranian deputies have again brandished this threat after the American strikes on nuclear installations in Iran, but the decision remains in the hands of the National Security Council, the highest security body in the country.
Here are four things to know about this strategic area.
Gulf entrance door
The Strait of Ormuz, which links the Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, is located between Iran and the Sultanate of Oman. It is particularly vulnerable because of its low width, approximately 50 kilometers, and its depth, which does not exceed 60 meters.
It is dotted with desert islands or little inhabited, but of great strategic importance: the Iranian islands of Ormuz, and those of Qeshm and Larak, facing the Iranian shore of Bandar Abbas.
The Omanaise bank, the Musandam peninsula, forms an index pointing to Iran, separated from the rest of the sultanate by land belonging to the United Arab Emirates.
Off the Emirates, the three “strategic islands” – the large tomb, the small tomb and Abu Moussa – constitute an observation post on all the coasts of the Gulf countries: United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran and Oman.
They have been occupied by Iran since 1971, after the departure of the British forces of the region.
Crucial for oil
The Strait of Ormuz constitutes by far the main navigation route connecting the rich oil countries of the Middle East to the rest of the world.
In 2024, around 20 million crude barrels circulated there daily, the equivalent of nearly 20 % of world consumption of liquid oil, according to the American Energy Information Agency (EIA).
About one fifth in the world trade in liquefied natural gas also passed through it, mainly from Qatar.
More than 80 % of oil and gas transitting there were intended for Asian markets, according to the EIA.
Only the Emirates and Saudi Arabia have a network of pipelines, which can transport a maximum of 2.6 million barrels per day, allowing them to bypass the Strait of Ormuz, underlines the EIA.
By closing the Strait, Iran “would undermine what remains of its alliances”, whether with the Gulf countries and Iraq or with its main customers, including China, wrote the economist and specialist in the Justin Alexander Gulf on Linkedin.
“It would also block its own oil exports, while its economy is already struggling,” said Professor of the University of Ottawa Thomas Juneau, on X.
The United States well present
Iran, who considers himself as the Gulf goalkeeper, regularly denounces the presence of foreign forces, in particular the Ve American fleet parked in Bahrain.
He has repeatedly threatened to block the Strait of Ormuz in the event of military action in the United States in the area.
It is the revolution guards, the Iranian ideological army, who control naval operations in the Gulf, and are responsible for ensuring the security of the strait.
One of the major disruptions of oil transport dates back to 1984, in the midst of the Iran-Iraq conflict (1980-1988), during the “oil war”. Over 500 ships had been destroyed or damaged.
Tehran then undermined areas passing through the Strait of Ormuz. On April 14, 1988, the USS frigate Samuel B. Roberts had hit a mine and failed to flow.
In July of the same year, an Iran Air Airbus A300 ensuring the connection between Bandar-Abbas and Dubai had been shot by two missiles from an American frigate patrolling in the Strait, killed 290 people. The USS crew Vincennes had claimed to have taken the Airbus for an Iranian hunter animated by hostile intentions.
Often attacked ships
In addition to the threats, the Strait of Ormuz is regularly the Théâtre d’Ascarmouches, such as arranges or attacks of boats.
Incidents have multiplied after the withdrawal of the United States in 2018 of the international agreement aimed at freezing the Iranian nuclear program.
In 2019, mysterious attacks against ships in the Gulf region, a slaughtered drone and seized oil tankers had raised a climbing between Tehran and Washington.
On July 29, 2021, an Oman Sea attack against an oil tanker managed by the company of an Israeli billionaire left two people, a British and a Romanian. Israel, the United States, Great Britain and Romania have accused Tehran, who denied any involvement.
In April 2024, the revolution guards had arrested the MSC container ship Aries Beating Portuguese pavilion, accusing his shipowner of being “linked to Israel”.
