Chokepoint WarfareBlockades and Counter-Blockades in 2026
A handful of narrow waterways carry a large share of the world’s energy and trade. In 2026, three parties to the war involving Iran turned those waterways into weapons. Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz from the first day of the war. The United States responded by blockading Iranian ports. The Houthis in Yemen then declared an embargo on Saudi Arabia, threatening the Red Sea route that matters most when the Gulf is shut. This factsheet sets out what moves through these chokepoints, how each blockade unfolded, and what they have cost the global economy.
Oil that passed through the Strait of Hormuz in 2024, about a fifth of global consumption
Source: US Energy Information Administration, 2025Stranded on around 2,000 ships in the Gulf by April 2026
Source: International Maritime Organization, April 2026Oil supply lost globally since the war began
Source: Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, October 2026Why Chokepoints Matter
A chokepoint is a narrow passage that a large share of shipping has no practical way around. For energy, the most important is the Strait of Hormuz, which runs between Iran and Oman. In 2024, around 20 million barrels of oil a day passed through it. That was about a fifth of global petroleum consumption and more than a quarter of all seaborne oil trade. Around a fifth of the world’s liquefied natural gas, most of it from Qatar, took the same route.
Select a marker on the map
TURKEYSYRIAIRAQIRANJORDANEGYPTSAUDI ARABIAKUWAITUAEOMANYEMENAFRICAASIAPERSIAN GULFRED SEAARABIAN SEACASPIANMEDITERRANEANAbout a fifth of global petroleum consumption and more than a quarter of all seaborne oil trade passed between Iran and Oman.
Source: US EIA, June 2025Source: US Energy Information Administration, June 2025. Pipeline routes are approximate.
Closing Hormuz
Iran never formally declared a blockade. Within hours of the US and Israeli strikes on 28 February, the Revolutionary Guards warned ships by radio that none would be allowed through, and ship-tracking data showed traffic falling by around 70 percent. On 2 March, a senior Revolutionary Guards official confirmed the closure. From late March, Iran also barred ships travelling to or from US, Israeli and allied ports.
The closure held even as Iran’s navy was destroyed. US Central Command said 92 percent of Iran’s large naval vessels had been sunk. Drone strikes, missile attacks, small boats and the threat of mines were still enough to keep shipowners and insurers away. By April, the International Maritime Organization said around 2,000 ships and 20,000 seafarers were stranded in the Gulf.
How the blockades unfolded
Strikes on Iran; radio warnings to shipping
Closure confirmed
US blockade of Iranian ports begins
Islamabad MoU signed
Truce collapses
US blockade reinstated
Houthi embargo on Saudi Arabia
Strait still largely closed
The Counter-Blockade
The United States responded by turning the same tool against Iran. After talks in Islamabad failed, the US Navy began blockading Iranian ports.
1 May 2026
Status on this dayFor weeks, the same waters held two blockades at once: Iran closing the strait and the United States closing Iran’s ports. The US Navy is targeting the oil exports that fund the Iranian state.
A Second Front in the Red Sea
The Red Sea had already shown how much damage a non-state group can do at a chokepoint. During the Houthi campaign against shipping, oil flows through the Bab el-Mandeb strait fell by more than half in the first eight months of 2024, to around 4 million barrels a day.
In 2026, the closure of Hormuz raised the stakes. Saudi Arabia exports oil from two coasts. With the Gulf closed, the Red Sea route became critical, and on 20 July the Houthis declared a maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia.
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SAUDI ARABIAIRANYEMENOMANUAEIRAQEGYPTSUDANERITREADJIBOUTIRED SEAPERSIAN GULFARABIAN SEAGULF OF ADENMore than 90 percent of Saudi Red Sea oil and product exports between March and June passed through the Bab el-Mandeb. Closing it would halt Saudi exports to Asia.
Source: Bimco data via The National, July 2026Source: Bimco data via The National, July 2026. Routes and markers are approximate.
The Economic Toll
War risk premium for one Gulf voyage
Source: Marsh, via The National, July 2026. The source figures are for a $100m tanker; other hull values apply the same rates.
The damage to global stocks
The longer-term damage shows up in global stocks. In October, Saudi Aramco’s chief executive estimated that about 3 billion barrels of oil supply had been lost since the conflict began and around 1 billion barrels drawn from global inventories. He said refilling those inventories while still meeting demand could take up to two years.
Source: Saudi Aramco CEO, October 2026
Conclusion
Iran and the Houthis showed in 2026 that closing a chokepoint does not require a navy. Iran kept Hormuz shut after losing most of its large warships, and the Houthis turned back Saudi tankers with a declaration and a handful of missile strikes. The United States answered in kind, using its blockade to strike at Iran’s oil income. In each case, the pressure fell on shipping, insurance and energy markets, and through them on economies far from the fighting.
The hardest lesson of the year is how difficult that pressure is to reverse.
Closing Hormuz took hours.
Reopening it has taken months of negotiation and a memorandum that collapsed within weeks, and the strait is still not open.
For the Asian economies that receive most of the energy passing through it, that imbalance is now a permanent feature of their security planning.