Policy Explainer: What Is the Strait of Hormuz — and Why Is It Making Everything More Expensive?

You’ve been hearing about it every day for three weeks now. But what exactly is the Strait of Hormuz — and why is a narrow waterway halfway around the world making your gas and grocery bills go up?

The short version: It is the most important oil chokepoint on the planet. And right now, it is effectively closed.

Here’s the geography.

The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow passage of water — at its narrowest, just 21 miles wide — connecting the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea. It sits between Iran to the north and Oman and the United Arab Emirates to the south.

Through that narrow passage flows approximately 20% of the world’s entire oil supply. Every single day. That includes the oil that fuels cars, heats homes, powers factories, and moves cargo ships carrying the goods you buy at the grocery store.

So what happens when it closes?

When the strait is disrupted, the entire global energy market feels it almost immediately. Oil prices spike. Gas prices follow. Then come transportation costs. Then food prices. Then everything else.

That is exactly what we are seeing right now. Gas prices have surged nearly 80 cents a gallon since the war began, according to AAA. Economists are warning of a stagflationary shock — meaning prices go up while economic growth slows down. For American families already stretched thin, that is a devastating combination.

Why can’t we just go around it?

There is no easy alternative. Some oil can be rerouted overland or through longer sea routes, but not nearly enough to replace what flows through the strait. And rerouting takes time — time that families paying more at the pump right now do not have.

Why does Iran have so much power here?

Iran shares a long coastline along the strait and has spent decades building up the military capability to threaten ships passing through it — mines, drones, fast boats, cruise missiles. It has threatened to close the strait before. Now, for the first time, it has followed through.

How long could this last?

That is the question no one in the administration can answer. And that uncertainty itself drives prices higher. Markets do not like uncertainty. Neither do American families trying to fill their tanks and feed their children.

Leading Ladies Vote believes that every American deserves access to affordable food, housing, and basic goods. Understanding why those things are suddenly more expensive is the first step to holding the people responsible accountable.