Chokepoint · Persian Gulf
Strait of Hormuz
Disrupted since February 28, 2026Updated October 1, 2026
The Strait of Hormuz is the sea passage between Iran and Oman that connects the Persian Gulf to the open ocean. It is 39 km wide at its narrowest. Before Iran closed it on February 28, 2026, about a fifth of the world's oil passed through. Since May, tankers have crossed again under US protection. Iran still attacks ships.
- Width at the narrowest
- 39 km
- 21 nautical miles
- Shipping lanes
- 2 × 3 km
- One each way, in Omani waters
- Oil a day before the war
- 20.9 million
- barrels in early 2025, 20% of world use
- Cargo ships a day
- 4
- Last four weeks; 92 a day in 2023
- Shores
Iran
Oman
Where is the Strait of Hormuz?
Between Iran to the north and the Musandam peninsula to the south, which belongs to Oman. The strait links the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Every tanker that loads oil in Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar or Bahrain has to pass through it.
IRAN
MUSANDAM(OMAN) OMAN UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Persian Gulf Gulf of Oman Bandar Abbas Dubai Fujairah Abu Musa Tunb islands Shipping lanes 39 km
IRAN
MUSANDAM(OMAN) Persian Gulf Gulf of Oman Bandar Abbas 39 km
Is the Strait of Hormuz open?
Partly. Iran's Revolutionary Guards closed the strait on February 28, 2026, hours after US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran. Iran still says the strait is closed. Its Persian Gulf Strait Authority demands permits and tolls, and has blacklisted 77 ships. On May 4 the US military began coordinating protected transits. By September, US Central Command said it had helped more than 2,000 commercial ships through.
Most of the oil now moves in two steps. Small tankers cross the strait and transfer cargo to large tankers off Fujairah in the UAE and Sohar in Oman. In the four weeks to September 27, ship-tracking data counted only about 4 cargo ships a day, against 92 in 2023, because most ships now cross with their transponders off. By late September crude was flowing at 13.5 million barrels a day, close to its prewar level, according to the ship-tracking firm Kpler. Fuels and gas were well below normal.
Iran still attacks ships. A sailor was killed on the Cape Dao on September 23, and the Kuwaiti tanker Al Funtas was hit on September 28.
Talks have not reopened the strait. A deal signed on June 17 let ships through until it collapsed on July 8, and the US blockade of Iran's ports returned on July 14. On September 25 Iran's foreign minister offered to reopen the strait within a week. President Trump rejected the offer the next day. Iran received a US counterproposal through Qatar on September 29 and 30.
Ships through the strait each day
Weekly average, January 2023 to September 2026
How much oil goes through the Strait of Hormuz?
Before the war, about 20.9 million barrels a day passed through the strait in early 2025, according to the US Energy Information Administration. That was one barrel in every five the world used. More than a fifth of the world's liquefied natural gas also went through, mostly from Qatar. Nine tenths of the crude went to Asia.
In April to June 2026 the EIA estimates 4.9 million barrels a day went through. The EIA says its 2026 figures are uncertain because ship tracking has been unreliable since February. Qatar shipped 18 cargoes of liquefied natural gas in the first six months of the war, against 509 in the same months a year earlier.
Oil through the strait
Where the strait's crude oil went, early 2025
74%
15%
11%
- China, India, Japan and South KoreaThe four largest buyers
- The rest of AsiaTaiwan, Thailand, Singapore and others
- Everywhere elseAbout one barrel in nine
Can oil get around the Strait of Hormuz?
Only part of it. Saudi Arabia can pump crude west to the Red Sea through its East-West pipeline. The UAE can send crude from Habshan to Fujairah, a port outside the strait. Before the war the EIA estimated that about 2.6 million barrels a day of unused pipeline capacity could avoid the strait.
During the war Saudi Arabia pushed the East-West pipeline toward its full capacity of 7 million barrels a day. The share of Gulf crude avoiding the strait rose from 17% before the war to 40% by late September, according to Kpler. Drones knocked out the East-West pipeline on September 11. It restarted around September 22. Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain have no large pipeline around the strait.
No large pipeline around the strait
Iraq
Kuwait
Qatar
Bahrain- Iran
What did the closure do to oil prices?
Brent crude, the main world benchmark, rose from $72.48 a barrel on the last trading day before the war to $92.69 by March 6. Its highest close was $118.03 on April 29. On April 30 Brent briefly touched $126.41. It fell as the June deal came together, to about $72 on June 26. On September 30 Brent closed at $98.03.
US diesel rose from $3.81 a gallon before the war to an all-time record of $6.53 in the week of September 21. On March 11 the 32 member countries of the International Energy Agency agreed to release 400 million barrels from emergency stocks, the largest release ever. The US share was 172 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. By September 25 the reserve had fallen to 283.8 million barrels, its lowest level since the early 1980s.
Brent crude, dollars a barrel
Who controls the Strait of Hormuz?
Iran and Oman. Each country's territorial waters reach 12 nautical miles from its coast. The strait is only 21 nautical miles wide, so the two zones meet in the middle and no international waters are left. The shipping lanes run through Omani waters.
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea gives ships the right to pass through straits like this one. Iran signed the convention in 1982 but has never ratified it.
Across the strait at its narrowest
21 nautical miles, 39 km
The strait since 1984
- 1984–88In the Tanker War, Iran and Iraq attacked each other's tankers while the US Navy escorted Kuwaiti ships. In 1988 the USS Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655, killing 290.
- Feb 2026Iran closes the strait after US and Israeli airstrikes.
- Apr 2026The US Navy blockades Iran's ports from April 13. On April 30 Brent crude briefly reaches $126 a barrel.
- May 2026The US military begins guiding tankers through the strait on May 4.
- Jun–Jul 2026A deal signed on June 17 reopens the strait. It collapses on July 8 after Iranian strikes on three tankers, and the blockade returns on July 14.
- Sep 2026Crude flows return to near their prewar level while Iran keeps attacking ships.
Resources through the strait
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