The fighting in the Middle East has the world on tenterhooks, but the economic shocks hitting Asia are so alarming that usually guarded regional leaders are speaking out. From its most resilient countries to the most vulnerable, the region is uniquely dependent on energy flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Singapore’s Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan put it bluntly when he described the U.S. as "a revisionist power” that some would even call a "disruptor.” He was speaking about the Iran war and America’s role in Asia, but also something larger: The erosion of the Washington-led postwar order that "underpinned a remarkable period of peace and prosperity” — a foundation that, as he put it last week, is now gone.

This is not simply anxious rhetoric. Instead, it reflects a deeper disquiet about how a conflict far from Asia’s shores, shaped by decisions made in Washington and Tel Aviv, is now landing squarely on the region’s households and businesses. About 90% of the oil and 83% of the liquefied natural gas that normally pass through the Strait of Hormuz are bound for Asia, Balakrishnan noted. "Right now,” he said, "the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is, in a sense, an Asian crisis.”

The wealthy city-state is........

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