Tehran Dangles Hormuz Re-Opening: Oman Route Almost Set, Six Demands Handed to Washington

Great-power leverage over global chokepoints is an old game: in 1956, Egypt’s closure of the Suez Canal forced London and Paris into an ill-fated invasion; in 1984-88, Iran and Iraq mined Hormuz during the ‘Tanker War,’ prompting U.S. re-flagging of Kuwaiti tankers. Today’s standoff echoes those episodes but flips the power dynamic: rather than outside powers coercing a regional state, Iran is wielding its geography—and U.S. energy market anxieties—to extract sanctions relief it has chased since 1979. The episode fits a century-long trend of smaller states using asymmetric tools (mines, missiles, legal claims) to contest maritime norms while major powers rely on naval presence to keep sea lanes open. Whether Washington concedes or counters will shape not only short-term oil prices but the precedent for other chokepoints—from Bab el-Mandeb to Malacca—over the next hundred years; a deal that recognises some Iranian management could normalise regionalised control of global commons, while a breakdown risks entrenching a new era of ‘contested straits’ diplomacy.