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Geopolitics
What are choke points, and why should we keep an eye on them?
How to talk about geopolitics at teatime (and even at dinnertime).
During the summer 2025 crisis, triggered by Israel’s attack on Iran in the so-called ‘Twelve-Day War’, many of us found ourselves reading headlines such as: ‘Fears for the Strait of Hormuz’, ‘Will the Strait of Hormuz be closed?’, and similar phrases were often uttered seriously on television or splashed across online news feeds as breaking news. Many of us quickly typed the name into Google, trying to understand where this stretch of sea was that had suddenly become the fulcrum of global geopolitical balance. In a matter of minutes, we discovered that around 20 million barrels of oil, almost a fifth of the world’s traffic, pass through the 21-nautical-mile-wide (33 km) strait between Iran and Oman every day. Forty to fifty oil tankers pass through this narrow sea corridor in both directions every day. Any interruption, or even a slowdown, to this flow could have devastating effects on the global economy. This is why, as we were repeatedly told during those days, the strait had to remain open at all costs. And so it did.
As a result, many people have become familiar with the concept of ‘choke points’.
