Mark Gagnon

I mean, you could drive the equivalent in like six minutes.

Yeah, exactly.

And like they need clearances for the shipping lanes, that whole deal.

It's, I mean, you could basically see it on a clear day, like the two shores, like you just look across and you're like, yeah.

So on the northern shore is Iran, specifically the port city of Bandar Abbas.

And it is home to the major Iranian naval base and the headquarters of the IRGC Navy, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

On the southern shore is the Musandam.

This is the Musandam Peninsula, which belongs to Oman.

And then just to the west, you have the UAE.

And scattered through the strait,

are several islands.

You have Kashim, the largest that belongs to Iran, as does Hormuz Island.

This is like the small, rocky island that gives the Strait its name.

And then you have Larak.

Iran's control of these islands means that it has military positions on both sides of the shipping lanes.

That is massive.

And that geographic reality has really shaped kind of the strategic elements for this region for a long time.

Now, the Persian Gulf, broadly speaking, is home to roughly half of the world's proven oil reserves.

So you got like Saudi, Iraq, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar.

I don't say Qatar.