Following scattered attempts at relieving tension between Iran and the U.S., including statements from Iranian officials downplaying the possibility of action in the Persian Gulf, the Iranian Navy announced last week that it would again hold military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of the world's oil passes.
That same day, Ali Fadavi, the commander of Iran's Naval Revolutionary Guards, suggested to Iranian state media that the world could not persevere even 24 hours without the Strait of Hormuz. Though Fadavi's statement is a blatant exaggeration -- a sudden loss of 20% of the global oil supply would be a severe economic shock, but the world would keep spinning -- it does a raise a key question: Are there viable alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz?
Hormuz, the only exit from the Persian Gulf, lies between Iran on the northern side and Oman on the southern. Almost 17 million barrels of oil pass through it daily, and five of the world's largest oil producers -- Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates -- are largely or wholly dependent on it, as is Qatar, the world's leading exporter of liquefied natural gas.
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