Key Countries / Regions

Determining America's Role in the World

It should not surprise that Iran sought to close the Strait of Hormuz when hostilities began in February 2026, or that it would use the Strait as leverage in negotiations. Controlling vital sea-lanes, particularly strategic chokepoints, is not a new dimension of warfare or coercion. Whether the Strait of Gibraltar in the Punic Wars, the Turkish Straits in World War I, used to block shipments to Russia; the Strait of Malacca, essential to Japan’s war effort in World War II; or now the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al Mandab, vital chokepoints shape the battle space and the economic and political dimensions and consequences of conflict.

The ways of controlling and blocking chokepoints have evolved. They have progressed from ships and cannon to sea mines and, in World War I, to shore-based torpedo batteries in the Turkish Straits. Submarines came of age in World War II, and a chokepoint’s funneling of shipping makes the submarine’s mission of hunting and killing easier. Today, missiles and drones add to an adversary’s quiver.

Except for the Panama Canal, the world’s vital chokepoints are in Eurasia. Each is different yet the same. The Strait of Gibraltar, the Turkish........

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