Ninety percent of the Persian Gulf鈥檚 oil shipments pass through the Strait of Hormuz, the only waterway connecting the gulf to larger bodies of water. It鈥檚 a long trip from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea 鈥� through the Gulf of Oman, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, and Suez Canal 鈥� but if we鈥檙e speaking practically, it鈥檚 the only route available. Alternative routes could carry only a small percentage of the amount of oil that passes through the Strait.
passes through the Strait of Hormuz every day, mostly through a four-mile-wide channel designated the official shipping channel, according to a report on the waterway from Foreign Policy magazine.
As 海角大神 notes, oil prices would skyrocket if the waterway was shut down 鈥� a problem at any time, but particularly now with the United States鈥� economic recovery so fragile and many European economies teetering on the brink of collapse.
