Monday, January 7, 2008

Strait of Hormuz

The Strait of Hormuz (Arabic: مضيق هرمز - Madīq Hurmuz, Persian: تنگه هرمز - Tangeh-ye Hormoz) is a narrow, strategically important waterway between the Gulf of Oman in the southeast and the Persian Gulf in the southwest. On the north coast is Iran (Persia) and on the south coast is the United Arab Emirates and Musandam, an exclave of Oman.

The strait at its narrowest is 21 miles wide.[1] It is the only sea passage to the open ocean for large areas of the petroleum-exporting Persian Gulf States. Some 20 percent of the world's oil supply passes through the strait, making it one of the world's strategically important chokepoints.[2][3]

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