The strait of Hormuz, a narrow stretch of water at the mouth of the Gulf, is the world’s petrol pump, a geographical bottleneck through which 20% of the world’s oil normally flows.
Since the US and Israel launched their war on Iran, however, Tehran has threatened to close the strait and cause mayhem. “They’ve not formally, officially shut it down, but they have said that they will set ablaze any tanker that tries to move through. For any shipping owner, for any insurer, that is as good as closed,” explains the Guardian’s energy correspondent, Jillian Ambrose.
Nosheen Iqbal hears about the knock-on effect on the global economy and everyday lives. “If you think about your day-to-day life, the goods that you consume, the services that you use, they all rely on energy at some point. So when the cost goes up, everything that you consume or use will become more costly too,” Jillian says.
Will the economic turbulence make the US president think again about the war? And how long can Iran keep it up? “Donald Trump wouldn’t want to admit defeat,” says Jillian, but “I see Iran as holding a lot of the cards in this conflict.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
