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The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow neck of water connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, and it functions as the single most consequential chokepoint for seaborne energy delivery out of the Middle East.
The United States has launched additional military strikes against Iran as a ceasefire teeters, and the two governments are now issuing irreconcilable claims about the strait's navigability: Washington says it is open; Tehran says it is closed.
Why the strait is the constraint The mechanism behind the strait's outsize market weight is simple geography. Persian Gulf producers have no meaningful alternative route for most of their export volume.
Any vessel leaving the Gulf by sea has to pass through it. When a credible closing claim circulates, whether or not it reflects ground truth, the capital response arrives before the ground truth does.
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