War In Middle East: Iran Closes Strait Of Hormuz, Impasse Squeezes World Shipping
Iranian officials said "the heroes of the Revolutionary Guards and the regular navy will set those ships ablaze” that try to pass through the Strait.
Published : March 3, 2026 at 12:15 PM IST
New Delhi: Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have officially declared that the Strait of Hormuz has been closed, warning that any vessel attempting to pass will be "set on fire" or attacked, Al Jazeera reported on Tuesday.
Iranian officials, according to the report, told the state media that the Strait of Hormuz is closed and if anyone tries to pass, “the heroes of the Revolutionary Guards and the regular navy will set those ships ablaze”.
The closure is a blow to the global energy market as the strait is key to them, handling about 20 pr cent of the world’s daily oil consumption. At its narrowest point, it is about 33 kilometres wide and connects major oil producers — Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates — to the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea.
What is the strait's importance to world markets?
Analysts, according to AFP, believe that while cutting off access will not affect the major Asia-Europe shipping route, with the Gulf ending in a cul-de-sac by the shores of Kuwait, Iraq and Iran, the strait is essential to all regional trade as it allows access to Dubai's Jebel Ali port, the world's 10th-largest container port and a redistribution hub for more than a dozen countries in the region.
According to Anne-Sophie Fribourg, vice-president of France's TLF freighters union, in Jebel Ali, container ships are unloaded onto smaller vessels bound for countries ranging from east Africa to India.
Has it ever been closed?
Paul Tourret, director of the French High Institute for Maritime Economy, said the Strait of Hormuz has always been open for business. Even during the Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988, commercial passage was maintained despite attacks on oil tankers, he said.
The current "freeze" on goods transiting through the strait is "unprecedented", said Cyrille Poirier-Coutansais, research director at the French Navy's Strategic Studies Centre.
Since Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran on Saturday, the world's largest shipping firms -- Italian-Swiss MSC, Denmark's Maersk, France's CMA CGM, Germany's Hapaq Lloyd and China's Cosco -- have ordered their ships to find shelter and stay safe.
On the Marine Traffic map, which tracks world shipping movements, you can make out clusters of ships, mainly tankers, anchored far to the north near Kuwait, as well as off the coast near Dubai. The Iranian merchant navy is likewise visible off the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas on the other side of the strait.
Several other distinct groups of ships can be seen just before the entry to Hormuz, Tourret said.
What goods transit through Hormuz?
Germany ships cars, machinery and industrial products via the strait, while France mainly sells cereals and agricultural products, cosmetics, luxury goods and pharmaceuticals. Italy, meanwhile, exports food, large quantities of marble and ceramics, said TLF's Fribourg.
In the other direction, besides oil and gas, from which fertilisers and plastics are derived, the Middle East accounts for nine percent of the world's primary aluminium production, nearly all of which is exported, according to TD Commodities.
Will there be delays? Price increases?
Several online shopping platforms have warned their clients that delivery times may increase. Temu and Shein have warned of delays of several days, while Amazon forecast even longer waits, according to Bloomberg.
Freight costs are already rising as a result of the additional charges shipping companies are imposing for transit in the region. For the Europe-Asia route, ships are also no longer using the passage through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal due to fears of renewed attacks by Iran's allies in Yemen, the Houthis. Rounding the Cape of Good Hope, at the tip of South Africa, adds around 10 extra days at sea and increases costs by roughly 30 percent. (With agency inputs)
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