Tensions over Hormuz resurface

The Strait of Hormuz is back at the center of the Iran crisis because fighting has not settled who controls the Gulf’s most important shipping lane. (apnews.com) On April 22, Iran fired on three ships in the strait and seized two of them, according to The Associated Press, a day after diplomacy with Washington faltered again. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he was extending the ceasefire while the U.S. military kept its blockade of Iranian ports in place. (apnews.com 1) (apnews.com 2) The current standoff follows nearly two months of war after U.S. and Israeli operations against Iran began on February 28, 2026, according to a Congressional Research Service report and multiple April analyses. Reuters reported on April 20 that Gulf officials feared any new U.S.-Iran deal might reopen shipping without producing the wider de-escalation they want. (congress.gov) (yahoo.com) Hormuz matters because it is a narrow exit for Gulf energy exports: the U.S. Energy Information Administration said 20.9 million barrels a day moved through it in the first half of 2025, about 20% of global petroleum liquids consumption and one-quarter of maritime oil trade. The same agency said about 20% of global liquefied natural gas trade passed through the strait in 2024, mostly from Qatar. (eia.gov 1) (eia.gov 2) That is why the argument has shifted from airstrikes and naval moves to leverage. Chatham House wrote on April 16 that Iran has tried to assert control with mines, ship attacks and transit fees, while Brookings said in March that even limited disruption can scramble commercial shipping and insurance. (chathamhouse.org) (brookings.edu) Washington has pointed to battlefield damage inside Iran, but those gains have not produced a stable political settlement. U.S. military officials said this month they had destroyed about 80% of Iran’s air defenses and attacked 90% of its weapons factories, while analysts at the Center for Strategic and International Studies argued on April 20 that Tehran is using Hormuz to raise costs and test U.S. staying power. (detroitnews.com) (csis.org) Energy markets have already treated the waterway as more than a military map point. The Energy Information Administration said on April 7 that global oil markets were in “heightened volatility and uncertainty” because the strait had been effectively closed to shipping traffic since military action began. (eia.gov) There are other export routes, but they are limited. The Energy Information Administration said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have some pipeline capacity that bypasses Hormuz, yet those alternatives cannot move the full volume that normally crosses the strait. (eia.gov) Iran says the waterway cannot be separated from the broader war and the U.S. blockade of its ports. The United States says Tehran cannot use a global trade route as coercion, and Gulf Arab states have told Reuters they want a wider arrangement that covers shipping, Iranian power projection and the risk of renewed fighting. (usnews.com) (yahoo.com) For now, the Strait of Hormuz is still the place where military pressure, oil flows and diplomacy meet — and none of those three tracks has settled the others. (apnews.com) (eia.gov)