In addition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, there are many threats that can currently drag the world into a new and destructive war, both military and economic. For example, the differences over Taiwan between China and the United States; those between the latter and North Korea and the ongoing conflict between Arabs and Israelis in the Middle East. But none more persistent than the Iranian threat to close the passage of oil from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz.
Although it does not feature in the daily media headlines, the situation in the strait remains one of the main concerns of the international community. About 40% of the world’s exportable production is shipped through this narrow arm of the sea, which makes it a vital point for oil-dependent developed nations.
The strait was under the rule of pirates for hundreds of years until the 19th century, and its proximity to Iran, ancient Persia, makes it a place of strategic importance to the West. There existed between the 10th and 17th centuries a kingdom, established by the Arabs, which later passed to Portuguese control. The strait is located between the Gulf of Ares and the Persian Gulf, with Iran to the north and the United Arab Emirates to the south.
Rubén Darío quotes him in his poem Sonatina, from his book Prosas Profanas, when he says: “Do you think of the prince of Golconda or of China/or the one who has stopped his Argentine chariot/to see in his eyes the sweetness of light ?/Or in the king of the Islands of Fragrant Roses,/or in the one who is sovereign of the clear diamonds,/or in the proud owner of the pearls of Hormuz?
The strait is probably one of the most tense places in the world, including on the Korean peninsula, where the hereditary transfer of power after the death of dictator Kim Jong Il revives the specter of a war that has already cost hundreds of thousands of victims.
