The Strait of Hormuz connects two bays - Oman and Persian, therefore it is a strategically important object. Its northern coast is owned by Iran, and the southern - by Oman and the United Arab Emirates. In the strait there are two transport channels 2.5 kilometers wide, and between them there is a buffer zone five kilometers wide. The Strait of Hormuz is the only waterway through which Arab gas and oil can be exported to third countries, for example, to the United States.
Etymology
The strait got its name from the island of Hormuz, and the island, in turn, has three options for the origin of the name. The first is in honor of the Persian god Hormuzd, and the second is from the Persian word, translated meaning “date palm”. And the third option is a local dialect called "persimmon".
High-profile events
Operation Mantis
On April 18, 1988, during the Iranian war with Iraq, the US Navy conducted an operation in which the Persian and Hormuz Gulf were involved. It was a response to the bombing of an American ship on Iranian mines. As a result, the Sahand frigate and several small ships were sunk.
Plane crash
On July 3, 1988, a US passenger plane was shot down by Iranian forces, killing almost three hundred people. There are many versions about this event, and, undoubtedly, this is one of the bloodiest tragedies in the history of aviation.
US-Iran incident
On January 6, 2008, several Iranian patrol boats approached a distance of less than two hundred meters from the vessels of the US Navy, which, according to the command, were at that time in international waters. Subsequently, one of the captains of the American ships was given a record indicating that the boats threatened to open fire on US vessels. To this, Iran published its recording, in which only ordinary radio was present.
Iran threatened channel blockage
On December 28, 2011, Muhammad Reza Rahimi expressed his strong dissatisfaction with the economic sanctions that the United States wanted to impose. He said that in the event of any pressure from America, oil supplies through the Strait of Hormuz would be blocked, and in fact one fifth of all oil supplies pass through it.
In the US, they considered this an empty threat, without attaching any importance to the words of the Iranian vice president. George Little, Pentagon spokesman, said the Strait of Hormuz is significant not only for them, but also for Iran itself. The US Navy expressed full combat readiness for possible actions at sea. Thus, if Iran still decides to block the strait, the United States will immediately take coercive measures in this regard. America believes that Iran has no right to close this sea route, as this is a direct violation of international law, which it will not tolerate.
Despite the belligerent mood of the United States, the geographic features of the strait hamper military activity in this region: it is rather narrow, so fast and small Iranian boats have an advantage over heavy American vessels. Therefore, the United States found another solution to the problem: cooperation with Iran’s neighboring countries to redirect oil by land without the Strait of Hormuz.