{"id":1318,"date":"2026-07-14T23:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1318"},"modified":"2026-07-14T23:42:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T23:42:08","slug":"who-really-controls-the-strait-of-hormuz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commercialrelocationpros.com\/?p=1318","title":{"rendered":"Who Really Controls the Strait of Hormuz?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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This is an edition of The<\/i> Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. <\/i>Sign up for it here.<\/i><\/small><\/p>\n

Read more The Bizarre Partnership Between the U.S. and Venezuela<\/a><\/p>\n

Yesterday, President Trump wrote on Truth Social that the United States would become the \u201cGUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,\u201d blockading Iranian ports and ensuring the safe passage of non-Iranian vessels. And in the spirit of \u201cFAIRNESS,\u201d he added, the U.S. would charge vessels a fee for the trouble.<\/p>\n

Then, this morning, an amendment: Trump disposed of the fee idea while still indicating that he intends to assert control of the strait and resume the blockade. Now, Trump says, the Gulf states will be making \u201cthe Trade and Investment Deals\u201d with the U.S. as a form of compensation. But the particulars of those deals (and of which states will participate) remain unclear.<\/p>\n

Today marked the fourth consecutive day of strikes across Iran. The cease-fire has disintegrated\u2014Trump formally notified Congress yesterday that the war has resumed\u2014and negotiations have collapsed. If American forces do try to reassert power in the strait, they\u2019ll face a difficult path. Iran is still clamping down on ship traffic, and recent violent clashes in the waterway have once again dramatically reduced the number of vessels entering and exiting the Persian Gulf. The United States\u2019 ability to exert control in the strait could depend on its ability to erode the system of dominance that Iran has established in recent months.<\/p>\n

Dominance in the Persian Gulf has never been clear-cut. In the early 16th century, Portuguese mariners brought their cartaz<\/i> system of permits to the Strait of Hormuz, overseeing the waterway for more than a century. In 1622, the joint forces of Persia and England\u2019s East India Company seized it. The Strait of Hormuz is now broadly understood as an international zone, and yet portions of the waterway remain contested. Its narrowest stretch is just 21 miles wide\u2014meaning that, according to a , it is entirely within the territorial waters of Iran and nearby Oman. Neither Iran nor the U.S. are party to the UN treaty, but the U.S. nevertheless recognizes it as international law, Michael Poznansky, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told me.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has assumed some responsibility for the Strait of Hormuz in the past. Defense of the Persian Gulf was at the core of the Carter Doctrine\u2014Jimmy Carter\u2019s attempt, in 1980, to respond to the Soviet Union\u2019s invasion of Afghanistan. Iran periodically attacked foreign vessels in the strait during the Iran-Iraq War of the \u201980s; in 1987, the U.S. Navy launched Operation Earnest Will, escorting Kuwaiti tankers through the strait for more than a year. During that war, the Iranian regime threatened to fully close off the strait but decided against it, realizing that the damage to its own economy would be too great. Iran has repeated this threat over the past two decades, but it never actually followed through until February, in retaliation for the U.S. and Israeli strikes on its land and the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n

Despite the persistent threat of Iranian interference in the strait over the past half century, its leadership was never guaranteed to be able to enforce an effective blockade. But what remains of Iran\u2019s military, decimated by months of war, has still proved capable of maintaining the transit restrictions that the regime announced in the spring. The persistent threat of mines, and of its nimble boats that can harass or attack other vessels, has kept ship traffic to a minimum; the number of crossings on Sunday was the lowest it had been in a month.<\/p>\n

Past efforts to break Iran\u2019s stranglehold over the course of this war have failed. In May, American forces began escorting some vessels through the strait as part of an initiative called Project Freedom; it ended after just two days, in part because Saudi Arabia declined to let the U.S. use its military bases and airspace. European allies could provide support for potential U.S. missions in the Gulf, as they did during , but Trump has now eroded many of those relationships.<\/p>\n

Read more Marco Rubio\u2019s Disappearing Signal Chat<\/a><\/p>\n

Given Iran\u2019s demonstrated ability to influence ship traffic, the project of ensuring freedom of navigation in the strait might require a permanent U.S. effort, Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow for Middle East studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, told me. This could end up being cumbersome and dangerous, Takeyh explained, given the military assets involved in escort missions and the inevitability of Iranian interference. And even then, ship traffic may not return to prewar levels.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s social-media posts over the past couple of days have gestured at the desire for a strong and continued American presence in the strait\u2014a profound shift on the part of a president who spent years decrying the country\u2019s role as \u201cthe policemen of the world.\u201d He may soon come to realize that policing the strait does not always mean controlling it.<\/p>\n

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