China, Russia, Iran assert power in key economic waterways

IRAN, China and Russia finished on Monday around four days of unprecedented trilateral naval drills in the north Indian Ocean and Sea of Oman. While the operations are being viewed primarily through a military lens, they could have much significance too for the global economy, especially in the troubled waters of the nearby Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf where the United States last month launched a naval operation to protect commercial shipping.

The US-led international effort - which includes Saudi Arabia, Australia and the United Kingdom - follows a series of attacks against oil tankers in the region, including one on a UK-flagged ship in July in the Strait of Hormuz. The latter transport node provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean in which one-fifth of the world's oil, a quarter of liquefied natural gas, and half a trillion US dollars of trade passes.

Take the example of oil exports for which the strait is the most important single gateway across the globe. The US Energy Information Administration calls it the world's worst "choke point", more so than even the Strait of Malacca in Asia, which runs between the Indonesian island of Sumatra, Malaysia and Thailand, connecting the Indian Ocean with the South China Sea.