The Strait of Hormuz: A History
Ibrahim Safi – The Public Trust
Today, when you hear of the Strait of Hormuz, you may think of gas prices, geopolitics, or war. But at the heart of this matter is the global economy and trade. And believe it or not, this is not the first time a war has been fought over the control of this strait. In 1507, Afonso de Albuquerque captured Hormuz Island for the Portuguese crown, making it a key trade center between the Middle East and Portuguese India, thereby connecting it to the global market.
However, the Safavid empire, the progenitor of modern Iran, which ruled over modern Iran, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan, sought control over the island, seizing it from the Portuguese with British help. After this war, Hormuz became a vital part of Iran’s economy with the famous entrepôt of Bandar Abbas, named after Shah Abbas. Control of this island allowed Iran to project power into the Persian Gulf, though it was challenged only by Oman, which was also rising at the same time. Persian textiles, Indian spices, Arabian horses, Zanzibari goods, Chinese silk, Egyptian grain, Turkish leather, Spanish silver, and many more goods all flowed in and out of this strait into the global market.
However, upon the collapse of political power in Iran after the assassination of Nadir Shah, the region fragmented into many dynasties that resulted in the frontiers of the nation gaining independence, like Afghanistan, or being absorbed by stronger nations, like Azerbaijan from the Russians, or, relevant to this topic, the gulf trade nodes by the British Empire. Much like the Portuguese, the British operated a global trade network and gained control of the Strait of Hormuz, even without direct control of the island. In the 19th century, as Iran consolidated under the Qajars within its modern borders, the British Empire, then controlling the Gulf and India, made trade deals with Iran that resulted in British dominance of the region's trade.
This process became critical when oil was discovered in the Khuzestan region of Iran in the early 1900s. The British, as the dominant trading power in the region, seized the opportunity and signed a trade deal with the Shah, resulting in British drilling for oil and taking most of the profits. While this did result in some development on the Iranian side, it also began to build resentment. The company formed as a result was called the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, now known as British Petroleum.
The importance of the Hormuz Strait only increased when, one by one, the countries of the Gulf struck oil, with Saudi Arabia of particular importance due to its trade agreement with the United States in 1945, one that was far fairer than the British had in Iran. This left the Iranian people feeling cheated as they saw the wealth reaped by other countries, culminating in the election of anti-colonialist politician Mohammed Mosaddegh, who promised to nationalize the oil industry. In 1951, Mosaddegh succeeded in nationalizing the oil industry, initially resulting in a larger share of the revenue going to Iranians. However, the British, who lost the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company as a result, blockaded Iran and imposed sanctions to pressure it into the previous arrangement, resulting in a severe economic crisis and diminishing Mosaddegh's popularity.
However, the British did not care about the country's political machinations, only about retrieving the oil company, so they approached the Americans, arguing that Iran might collapse as a result of this blockade, which would lead to communist groups and, consequently, an increase in Soviet power in the country. This led the CIA and MI6 to orchestrate Operation Ajax, the overthrow of the democratically elected Mosaddegh in August of 1953, and the transition of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi from a constitutional monarch to an absolute monarch, with a strong nationalist and pro-western policy. Britain’s power, however, continued to decline, with the Gulf states gaining independence in the years that followed. American economic dominance in the region gradually replaced British dominance, again with the key objective of protecting trade through the strait, especially since oil, a global commodity, was being traded there.
Meanwhile, Mohammed Reza Shah’s policies bred a lot of resentment, with forced secularization occurring, as well as the dreaded SAVAK, the secret police, who tortured and executed anyone suspected of dissent against the government. In this era, many groups were socially ostracized and politically repressed, including Iran’s religious population, leftists, and ethnic minorities.
This oppression culminated in the Iranian revolution of 1979, and although it is often called the ‘Islamic revolution’ today, in truth, it was a coalition of many anti-monarchist parties, of which the Islamist faction, led by the revolution’s figurehead, Ruhollah Khomeini, successfully overthrew the Shah. Whilst many assume that the resulting Islamic Republic of Iran was a theocracy, it was actually modeled after the French Fifth Republic and the Shi’i principle of Wilayat al-Faqih, or rule by jurist in Sharia, with the executive office divided between the President, who oversaw legislation, and the Rehbar or Supreme Leader, who oversaw religious affairs and acted as the final authority in governmental matters.
Apart from the anti-monarch sentiments, the coalition that formed the government also had a strong anti-western sentiment, resulting in the American embassy in Tehran being seized as a response to the Americans giving refuge to the Shah, whom the people wanted to try in an Iranian court. Ultimately, regardless of ideology, a key common thread in this event was the Iranian people's desire for sovereignty. Thus, with this incident, the Americans and most Western countries were shut out of Iran, resulting in open hostilities to this day.
Ever since then, there has been a cold war between Iran and the US. Today’s economy depends heavily upon crude oil imports from the Gulf to produce energy, plastics, fertilizers, and many other products. Japan and South Korea are believed to import 75% of their crude oil from the Gulf; Taiwan and Pakistan, each around 60%; India and China, each around 50%; and several other nations.
With the ongoing war between Iran and the US, traffic through the strait is being interrupted, resulting in a massive economic shock to Gulf oil exports, thereby harming the countries dependent on these exports and, because of supply chain economics, the entire world economy. The strait has been fought over many times by many empires for its strategic location and utility in trade, and this war is a continuation of this pattern. Only time will tell what the outcome of this is.
Works Cited
Matthee, Rudolph P, and Jorge Manuel Flores. Portugal, the Persian Gulf and Safavid Persia. Leuven, Peeters, In Association With The Iran Heritage Foundation And The Freer Gallery Of Art & Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2011.
Savory, Roger. Iran under the Safavids. Cambridge England, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
CaspianReport. (2026, March 25). Why boots on the ground is coming. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtpFa0LdXEY
