Iran and the ‘Strait card’: a risky high-stakes gamble

IN THE fog of modern warfare, victory rarely belongs to the side with the most missiles. It belongs to the side that controls the choke points, the narrow passages through which the lifeblood of the global economy flows.

For Iran, that choke point is the Strait of Hormuz, and wielding it with strategic discipline could allow Teheran to emerge from a conflict not as a defeated power, but as a reluctant, indispensable broker of regional stability.

Geography of leverage

The Strait of Hormuz is, by any measure, one of the most consequential stretches of water on earth. At its narrowest point, roughly 33 km wide, it serves as the sole maritime exit for a fifth of the world’s traded oil and a fifth of global liquefied natural gas.