1/12/24
By ProNews
Translated from Greek

The Americans and British have carried out extensive air and missile strikes against the Houthis, but all eyes are on Iran and what it will do in the coming days.

Iran always has the possibility to close the Straits of Hormuz and cause a sharp increase in the price of oil even to... $200 a barrel, which would cause an economic collapse in all Western countries.

Especially the EU would be deprived of the Qatari LNG which is necessary for it not to face social disaster.

The Straits of Hormuz is considered the most important oil "artery" on the planet and is bounded between Oman and Iran, while joining the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman to the south and the Arabian Sea!

Their width is 33 kilometers at its narrowest point.

The traffic lane is 3 km in each direction.

About a fifth of the volume of the world's total oil consumption passes through the Straits every day

OPEC members export most of their crude oil through the Straits of Hormuz!

Qatar, which is the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), sends almost all of its LNG through the Straits.

20% of global LNG flows pass through the Straits!

If the Straits are closed by Iran, in addition to oil and natural gas prices will also skyrocket, especially at a time when Russian cheap gas is absent from the European markets.

At the same time there is the Bab el-Madeb strait, located between Djibouti and Yemen, the focus of Houthi attacks on ships.

There is the southern entrance to the Red Sea, a critical waterway between Europe and Asia connected by the Suez Canal.

12% – 15% of world trade passes through there, so a significant percentage of containers.

Already most companies now choose to circumnavigate Africa thus increasing transport costs by at least 40%.

So if they close, the disaster for the West will be of colossal proportions and it will have no choice but to intervene militarily by any means available against Iran, which in turn is too powerful a country to bend easily (and if it bends), while it is considered certain that it will receive support from Russia and China.

After all, they are allies and participants in the same "bloc", the BRICS.

The "best case scenario" for a detente is seen to be for the strikes to be effective and for navigation in the Red Sea to be restored, as the Houthis' ability to launch attacks has been neutralized, before Iran intervenes.

But it is very difficult to do this. We have seen thousands of missile attacks in Ukraine for two years, but the result - still - is almost very relevant, as far as Ukraine's ability to wage war is concerned.

The absorbency of the wounds is the crucial thing in such a case. And the Houthis have proven that they have a huge absorption if you consider that they have faced without much problem for three years the Air Forces of Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

source:
https://www.pronews.gr/amyna-asfaleia/ti-tha-symvei-an-to-iran-kleisei-ta-stena-tou-ormouz-i-simerini-epithesi-kata-ton-xouthi-mporei-na-anoikse-ton-asko-tou-aiolou/