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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Wyatte Grantham-Philips

The Strait of Hormuz has been disrupted before. A look at past moments that threatened oil flows

Iran Energy Triage - (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The U.S. and Israel's war with Iran has thrust the Strait of Hormuz once again into the crosshairs of a geopolitical conflict.

Iran has ground to a halt nearly all traffic in the waterway that connects the Persian Gulf to the rest of the globe's oceans, shutting down a critical path for the world’s flow of oil. Attacks on commercial ships and threats of further strikes have stopped nearly all tankers from carrying oil, gas and other goods through the passage. That’s also led to cuts from some of the world’s largest producers, because their crude has nowhere to go.

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