Following through on an old threat, Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off a vital waterway that normally carries about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, in retaliation for U.S.-Israeli strikes. As oil markets worry about a global energy crisis, the United States has said it may consider escorting vessels through the strait, which could prove very hard to secure – something Yemen’s Houthis proved in disrupting Red Sea shipping last year. About a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas normally passes through the strait, where traffic has dropped by 97 percent since the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran began on February 28, according to United Nations data. Why has Iran cut off the strait now? When a commander in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned in 2011 that cutting off the strait would be “easier than drinking a glass of water”, the threat to the strait had already been made many times before. In the years since, the Guards have continued to warn they could close it, including during tensions over sanctions and Iran’s nuclea
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