News Brief
India’s Energy Imports May Take A Hit As Iran Mulls Closing Strategically Vital Strait Of Hormuz After US Strikes
An oil tanker (Representative image via Wikimedia).
Iran is reportedly considering closing the strategically important Strait of Hormuz in response to US airstrikes on three of its nuclear sites, according to Iranian media reports.
A senior Iranian lawmaker, Esmaeil Kowsari, said on Sunday (22 June) that the Majlis (Iranian parliament) has agreed to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to the US strikes and the silence of the international community, Iran's state-owned PressTV reported.
Kowsari, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s committee on national security and foreign policy, said the country's lawmakers have reached a consensus on the closure of the strait, though the final decision rests with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.
The narrow strait is among the most crucial global chokepoints, with nearly 20 per cent of the world's oil and gas shipments passing through it.
The strait, linking the Persian Gulf with the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean, spans just 33 km at its slimmest stretch, separates Iran in the north from the Arabian Peninsula in the south.
Shipping lanes within the strait are even narrower—just 3 km wide in each direction— leaving it highly exposed to attacks and threats —risks Iran now appears ready to realise.
Major oil producers—Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, Qatar, Iran, and Kuwait—depend on this sea route.
While Western nations, primarily US and Europe, were once most vulnerable to disruption in Persian Gulf energy flows, today Asia and China would bear the brunt of any closure.
Earlier on Sunday, PM Modi spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and expressed concern over recent escalation in the conflict in West Asia.
"Spoke with President of Iran Masoud Pezeshkian. We discussed in detail about the current situation. Expressed deep concern at the recent escalations. Reiterated our call for immediate de-escalation, dialogue and diplomacy as the way forward and for early restoration of regional peace, security and stability," PM Modi said in a post on X.
A potential closure of the Strait of Hormuz remains a concern for India given the volume of crude that passes through it, but New Delhi is far better positioned today to manage such a disruption, having built up alternative supply lines from Russia, the United States, and Brazil over the past few years, according to industry officials and analysts cited in an NDTV report.
Further, Russian oil, which now forms a large part of India's crude imports, is logistically detached from the Strait of Hormuz, flowing via the Suez Canal, Cape of Good Hope, or the Pacific Ocean.
For gas, India’s main supplier Qatar ships via alternative routes, while liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from Australia, Russia, and the US would also remain unaffected by a Hormuz shutdown.
Still, rising tensions in this vital energy corridor are expected to drive up prices in the short-term, with analysts forecasting oil could spike to $80 per barrel.
