Hormuz, Strait of

The Strait of Hormuz is the chokepoint between Oman and Iran linking the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, through which roughly a fifth of global oil consumption transits, around 20 million barrels a day. Its narrowest point is about 21 nautical miles, with two-mile-wide traffic lanes inside Omani and Iranian territorial seas under a transit-passage regime. Periodic Iranian threats to close it, tanker seizures, and GNSS jamming make it the most watched energy chokepoint for war-risk underwriters.