Straightening Out the Strait

By: John Browne Wednesday, January 25, 2012 Recently some of the fears that investors had focused on in the 11th hour debt negotiations in Greece have drifted southeastward towards the Strait of Hormuz. An increasingly bellicose Iran threatens to throw the world economy into confusion with the potential closure of one of the world's most important sources of energy. Catastrophic failure in Athens or the Gulf could plunge the world into severe recession if not depression. Having discussed the Eurozone at length, we focus this week on the threats posed by Iran. Some twenty percent of the world's oil supplies pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which lies between the Hormozgan province of Iran and Northern Oman. Some 230 miles of heavily fortified Iranian coastline, which includes the Iranian naval base of Bandar-e 'Abbas, dominates the Strait. Although U.S. and allied naval ships ar...