Strait of Hormuz

Facts for Prelims

Strait of Hormuz

News: Recently, the United Arab Emirates and Iran’s military have started their annual Drill in the coastal area of the Gulf of Oman and near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

About:
• The strait is located at the mouth of the Persian Gulf and is crucial to global energy supplies, with about a fifth of all oil traded at sea passing through it.
• The waterway separates Iran and Oman, linking the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
• The Strait is 33 km wide at its narrowest point, but the shipping lane is just three km wide in either direction.
• Most crude exported from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE, Kuwait and Iraq is shipped through this waterway.

Is it the only way out of the gulf?
• Traveling by sea, the strait is the only means of transporting goods or people to the rest of the world. For this reason, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have proposed building more oil pipelines to avoid the problematic waterway.