Hormuz Crisis: A Turning Point for Global Energy Markets

The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz has raised questions about the US strategy towards Iran. For weeks, Tehran has benefited from the assumption that the strait is too important to the global economy for Washington and its partners to tolerate its prolonged disruption.

However, this assumption is now being tested as oil inventories have been drawn down sharply, petroleum products remain tight, and energy-importing economies are absorbing significant costs.

The relevant question for US strategy is not whether the closure of Hormuz is painful, but whether that pain is more strategically endurable than the concessions Tehran hopes to extract in return for ending it.