Iran Shuts Strait of Hormuz After Second Day of U.S. Airstrikes

Great-power tussles over maritime chokepoints are a recurring pattern: in 1956 Egypt’s nationalisation of the Suez Canal closed the waterway for months, and in 1984-88 the Iran–Iraq ‘Tanker War’ saw both sides mining and attacking Gulf shipping until the U.S. re-flagged tankers. Today’s declared shutdown of Hormuz—through which ~20 % of global oil normally flows—reprises that playbook but with precision drones, social-media real-time propaganda, and a U.S. leadership eager for a quick public victory before elections. It underscores two long arcs: the vulnerability of energy transit to asymmetric actors, and Washington–Tehran relations oscillating between coercive diplomacy and open conflict since 1979. Whether this moment becomes another temporary flare-up or the point where a century of fossil-fuel-driven geopolitics finally tips toward permanent multipolar energy routes will hinge on how fast alternative supply chains (Arctic, East African, renewables) mature; in 2126, historians may see the 2026 Hormuz closure as either a last gasp of oil-era brinkmanship or the spark that accelerated its end.