By Katrina Northrop and Ashley Cai
The war between the U.S. and Iran has exposed a painful vulnerability in the global economy: Disruptions at key chokepoints, like the Strait of Hormuz, can wreak havoc on international trade.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz ballooned energy prices across the globe, triggering pain everywhere from Indian factories to Louisiana gas stations.
Though a peace deal between the two countries promised to reopen the passageway, Iran said it had closed the Strait of Hormuz again on Saturday. The U.S. military disputed Tehran's announcement, saying traffic continued to flow.
This ongoing crisis highlights potential concerns about other trade bottlenecks across Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. These other maritime routes, including the Strait of Malacca and the Panama Canal, are crucial to the flow of energy and consumer goods around the world -- and are vulnerable to the next geopolitical crisis.
Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz is a vital artery for the global energy trade. One-fifth of the world's oil shipments and a significant share of its liquefied natural gas supply pass through the narrow route, which connects the Persian Gulf to international markets. Energy flows through the strait are particularly important for Asian markets, such as South Korea and Japan.
The conflict between the U.S. and Iran throttled the movement of ships through the strait and cascaded through the world economy. Even before Iran announced it had shut the corridor once again over the weekend, citing Washington's failure to stop clashes in Lebanon, experts warned that it may take weeks for normal traffic to resume following peace negotiations.
Strait of Malacca
Linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Strait of Malacca is the fastest sea lane for energy supplies to move from the Middle East to Asia. It is the biggest oil transit chokepoint in the world, with 23.2 million barrels of oil passing through its waters a day in the first half of 2025, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. China, which imported nearly 8 million barrels of crude oil through the strait every day in the first half of last year, is especially reliant on it.
The importance of the strait has been spotlighted by the Hormuz closure, as well as comments in April by Indonesian Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, who floated the idea of charging tolls for ships passing through the channel. Indonesian officials later backtracked on the statements.
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is an important funnel for trade going to and from U.S. ports. Connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, the man-made waterway handles around 40% of U.S. container traffic -- amounting to roughly $270 billion annually -- according to the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission.
The Panama Canal became embroiled in U.S.-China tensions after President Trump said he wanted to take back control of it and criticized Beijing's involvement in the corridor. Hong Kong-based conglomerate CK Hutchison operated two ports on either end of the canal before the Panama Supreme Court voided the contract in January.
Suez Canal
Egypt's Suez Canal provides a maritime route from Asia to Europe, dealing with large volumes of energy supplies and containerships. It is the third largest oil transit chokepoint in the world, with nearly 5 million barrels of crude passing through its waters a day in the first half of 2025, according to the EIA. In 2021, a 1,300-foot containership called the Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal for six days, triggering massive disruption in global supply chains.
Turkish Straits
The Turkish Straits are the waterways between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean that provide a conduit for oil from countries such as Russia and Kazakhstan, as well as grain from Ukraine, to reach global markets. The straits have been caught up in geopolitics since the start of the Ukraine war, with Western sanctions on Russian oil setting off a traffic jam in the passageway in 2022.
Bab el-Mandeb
Sandwiched between Yemen and Djibouti, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and is an important conduit for Middle Eastern oil. This spring, Iran threatened to shut the strait with the help of its Houthi allies in Yemen.
Write to Katrina Northrop at katrina.northrop@wsj.com and Ashley Cai at ashley.cai@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 21, 2026 14:00 ET (18:00 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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