Strait of Hormuz Crisis Image: Freepik/X
Israel-Iran War: Today is the fourth day of America-Israel attack against Iran. Missiles were fired by Israeli and American forces at important targets of Iran on Monday night. Iran also retaliated against Israel. Meanwhile, Iran has taken a fatal step. Iran has announced the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran said on Monday that the Strait of Hormuz is closed and any ship attempting to pass through it would not be released. Iran has warned that if their words are ignored, the consequences will be bad. Any ship passing through there will be set on fire.
Iranian army warning
According to Iranian state media, Brigadier General Sardar Ibrahim Jabari, a senior adviser to the Commander-in-Chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), said, ‘The Strait of Hormuz is closed. If anyone tries to cross it, the heroes of the Revolutionary Guards and the regular Navy will set those ships on fire.
Why is the Strait of Hormuz important?
The Strait of Hormuz is a very narrow sea route, which is the ‘king’ of the world’s oil trade. The movement here decides the petrol and diesel bill of the vehicle in India.
The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean. Iran is situated in its north, Oman and United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the south. Through this route, oil and gas from Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Bahrain and UAE is transported to the international market. Most of it goes to Asian countries including China.
Talking about its importance, it is the only sea option available to the Gulf countries to deliver their oil to the world. According to statistics, 20 to 25 percent of the seaborne crude oil trade across the world passes through this route. This is the reason why it is called the ‘kingmaker’ of global energy trade.
This is Iran’s biggest weapon
Whenever there is tension in the Gulf countries, especially between Iran and Western countries (America-Israel), the Strait of Hormuz turns into a geopolitical weapon. Iran has a strong geographical hold on this route. Iran has about 3000 short-range missiles which are capable of hitting about 200 to 250 km.
How much will it affect India?
India imports about 90 percent of its crude oil needs, out of which about 50 percent of the oil reaches Indian shores through the Strait of Hormuz. In such a situation, blockage of this route can be dangerous for India. India may have to buy oil at expensive prices in the international market.
But, India has Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPR) to deal with emergency situations. Apart from this, India purchases oil from more than 40 countries (Russia-America etc.). But oil from the Gulf countries reaches India in a short time, whereas it takes 25 to 45 days to reach India from the Atlantic region or Russia. In such a situation, this bottleneck created on the way to Hormuz can directly increase India’s import bill.
Also read: Donald Trump came LIVE for the first time after starting the attack on Iran, said – this is just the beginning, it will go on for a long time