John Kiriakou says Iran had proposed charging ships as much as $2 million each to transit the Strait of Hormuz — payable in yuan rather than dollars, a direct challenge to U.S. economic control of the region and its oil traffic.[1] Days after Donald Trump said the United States would take over the strait, the U.S. Navy announced it had done exactly that: it had taken control of the strait and closed it. Kiriakou calls this a reversal of decades of U.S. policy, which had always held that the strait must remain open — now, he says, it is the United States ensuring the strait stays closed.[2]
A narrow, vital chokepoint
Kiriakou notes the strait is only 16 miles wide at its narrowest point, with ships required to stay barely on the international side of the line marking Iranian territorial waters — leaving them vulnerable to fast boats operated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.[3] He says the strait’s importance goes beyond oil: 65% of the world’s fertilizer supply passes through it, and without that fertilizer the world cannot adequately feed itself, given that Ukraine — the “world’s breadbasket” — cannot produce enough wheat on its own to make up the difference for a fertilizer-starved Africa.[4]