The Middle East has once again become the centre of a global power struggle. On 7 October 2023, Hamas launched its devastating attack on Israel, triggering a war that transformed the regional security landscape. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the attack would change the map of the Middle East. The consequences have extended far beyond Israel and Gaza, bringing Iran, the United States, Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi movement into an increasingly dangerous strategic contest.

The central question is no longer simply who will win a particular war. It is who will control the Middle East’s political future, energy resources and maritime lifelines. There is an interesting historical question behind the name of this region. Who coined the term “Middle East”? British military officer Thomas Edward Gordon used the expression in 1900 while discussing the defence of British India. American naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan popularised it in 1902, drawing attention to the Persian Gulf and the strategic importance of the sea routes connecting Europe and Asia.

British journalist Valentine Chirol subsequently helped popularise the term. The region was described as “middle” because of its position in a European-centred geographical imagination, between the Near East and the Far East. The name reflected the strategic concerns of outside powers more than the geographical identity of the people living there. This history offers an important lesson for Global International Relations, or Global IR. For decades, international politics was frequently explained through the interests of Western great powers, particularly Britain and the United States.

Global IR encourages us to examine international affairs from multiple geographical and intellectual perspectives, recognising the agency of Asian, African and other non-Western societies. In the Middle East, local governments, regional movements and smaller states are not merely pieces on a Western chessboard. They have their own ambitions, identities and strategies. The present crisis demonstrates how regional actors can challenge even the most powerful external countries.

Two narrow waterways reveal the scale of this transformation. The Strait of Hormuz connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the wider Indian Ocean. Bab el-Mandeb connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, opening the route towards the Suez Canal and Europe. These passages carry enormous significance for international oil supplies and commercial shipping. When either becomes insecure, the consequences spread across the global economy. When both come under pressure simultaneously, the result can be a strategic nightmare for the United States, Europe and energy-importing countries such as India.

Iran understands the strategic value of Hormuz. It does not necessarily need to defeat the American military in a conventional........

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