The New York Review of Books | Nicholas Mulder
The Strait of Hormuz, a critical global maritime chokepoint, has been effectively closed by Iran since late February using its drone and missile arsenal in response to the US–Israeli war, while the US under Trump imposed its own blockade on Iran since mid-April. This conflict highlights the concept of "flow control," where states manipulate crucial transit points to regulate and profit from trade, rather than completely block it. Iran, for instance, demanded a toll payment of about $1 per barrel of oil for passage through Hormuz as of early April. This situation exposes the vulnerability of populous, fast-growing economies in South, Southeast, and East Asia, including India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and China, which are heavily reliant on Gulf energy imports. Many of these Asian states have already made arrangements with Iran to secure access, prioritizing energy over adherence to "freedom of navigation" principles. This emerging post-American network of global trade, with its own internal balance of power, reflects historical traditions of Eurasian economic exchange and the re-evaluation of maritime control doctrines.
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