Strait of Hormuz: What to know about Iran's control over vital oil trade route

The United States launched military strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities Sunday morning local time, an action President Trump said aimed to neutralize a threat "posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror." It was widely seen as a turning point in America's involvement in the ongoing Middle East conflicts as the first direct intervention by U.S. forces in the war between Israel and Iran. 

The strikes have ignited concerns about possible Iranian retaliation and what form such responses could take. Among them are fears Iran could block oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz, a major commercial trade passage that the country partly controls.

What is the Strait of Hormuz, and why is it important?

Located between Oman and Iran, the Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea and at its narrowest point, it is just 21 miles wide. The water, a crucial piece of global trade infrastructure, facilitates the transit of millions of barrels of oil and petroleum products per day, according to the Energy Information Administration, or EIA, a branch of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Iran controls the northern side of the strait, which runs along its border, and Oman and the United Arab Emirates control the southern side.

Because of that, the strait has become one of the most vital oil "chokepoints" in the world, U.S. energy officials say. An analysis released last week by the EIA defined chokepoints as "narrow channels along widely used global sea routes that are critical to global energy security," which can raise shipping costs and cause supply delays if passage through them is disrupted.

Iran has long used the threat of closing the strait as a way to ward off Western pressure.

Which products pass through the Strait?

In 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, more than a quarter of global maritime oil trade flowed through the Strait of Hormuz, equaling about one-fifth of oil and petroleum consumption worldwide, according to the EIA. 

The agency estimated roughly 20 million barrels of oil have transited the strait daily since at least 2020, with tanker tracking data indicating close to 40% of the barrels last year were exported from Saudi Arabia — the most of any country. Along with crude oil and petroleum products, the strait also allowed for about one-fifth of the world's liquefied natural gas trade in 2024, which primarily came from Qatar, the EIA said. 

Both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have oil pipelines that, to an extent, could serve as alternative trade routes should the Strait of Hormuz become compromised, but their relative capacities would be limited. The EIA noted that disruptions to oil flow through the strait would severely impact a few markets, such as China, India, Japan and South Korea, which imported a majority of the oil and gas that transited it in 2024. In the U.S., the agency reported that oil imports through the Strait of Hormuz only accounted for 7% of the country's total oil imports and 2% of its liquid petroleum consumption over the same period.

However, officials warn that any interference with oil flows through the strait could broadly upset international energy markets and economies by stifling supply and possibly driving up oil and gas prices. 

"A suicidal move"

Speaking about what Iran might do next, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" that an Iranian effort to block the strait "would be a suicidal move," likely driving backlash from a sizable group of powerful countries that would be impacted by that kind of decision.

"If they do that, the first people that should be angry about it are the Chinese government, because a lot of their oil comes through there," Rubio said, when asked about the possibility of Iran mining or otherwise preventing movement through the strait. "Mining" entails placing naval mines — which are explosives — in the water to damage vessels trying to pass.

If that were to happen, Rubio said China would "pay a huge price," as would "every other country in the world," including the U.S.

"It will have some impact on us. It will have a lot more impact on the rest of the world," he said, hypothetically, of the consequences. "It would be a suicidal move on their part because, I think, the world would come against them if they did that."

The U.S., with its 5th Fleet stationed in Bahrain, has long pledged to uphold freedom of navigation in the strait.