The Strait of Hormuz is the only major commercial artery on earth named after a god. The name derives from Hormoz, the Middle Persian rendering of Ahura Mazda – the Zoroastrian deity of wisdom, light, and cosmic order. This is not poetic licence; it is an etymological fact. The ancient Persians did not simply build a trade route here. They consecrated it.A place named after the god of order has become the single point where global order faces its greatest vulnerability. Through these waters – 167km (104 miles) long, 39km (24 miles) wide at their narrowest point – pass an estimated 30,000 vessels per year.They carry not only a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil and liquified natural gas but also the urea needed for the fertilisers that grow its food, the aluminium that constructs its infrastructure, the helium that cools its semiconductors, and the petrochemicals that sustain its pharmaceutical and manufacturing base.The Strait of Hormuz is not an oil chokepoint. It is the aortic valve of globalised production – and like any valve, when it fails, the entire circulatory system collapses.Nine hundred years of toll collectionIn the eleventh century, an Arab chief named Muhammad Diramku – Dirhem Kub, “Dirham minter” – left Oman and crossed the Gulf to found the Kingdom of Hormuz on the Iranian coast. He was a merchant-prince, not a warrior, and he understood that power …
