One fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas shipments typically pass through the narrow Strait of Hormuz on their way out of the Persian Gulf. The reason for such a tight exit from the Gulf also explains why the region has such rich oil and gas deposits in the first place: a continental collision millions of years in the making.

Tensions in the Persian Gulf have risen sharply. Iranian forces have blocked 38 Indian commercial vessels from continuing their journey. Iran has accused India of helping the United States locate and destroy a major Iranian naval ship.

A backup of oil tankers in the Persian Gulf is disrupting supplies, and will only get worse the longer the Strait of Hormuz is closed.

President Trump said the government agency will provide political risk insurance to "all shipping lines" operating in the Persian Gulf.

Iran's IRGC allegedly hit a US oil tanker with a missile in the northern Persian Gulf, igniting it, and then warned of controlling Strait of Hormuz traffic, local media reported.

“This has been an existential worry in the Gulf,” the University of Utah professor Michael Christopher Low, who has written extensively about water scarcity, told me. Striking at the plants would qualify as a war crime under the Geneva Conventions, he added, but it would not be an unprecedented move.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and neighboring countries in the Persian Gulf region use the fossil fuels under their desert lands not only to make money, but also to make drinking water. The petroleum they produce powers more than 400 desalination plants,

Clarksons counts 112 crude oil tankers inside the Persian Gulf as arrivals drop 80%; operators report standstill transits and rising insurance costs

The widening conflict in the Middle East forced Danish container shipping giant Maersk to halt two key routes linking the region with Europe and Asia.

A huge number of Indians spend their lives hopping across the Arabian Sea — remitting billions of dollars a year, supporting their families and the Indian economy.

The US military bases located in the Persian Gulf countries are a threat, not a protection for these states. This was announced on March 6 by Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council.