{"id":19991,"date":"2026-03-15T06:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T06:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/19991\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T06:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T06:24:07","slug":"iran-war-exposes-fragility-of-gulf-asia-supply-chains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/19991\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran war exposes fragility of Gulf-Asia supply chains"},"content":{"rendered":"<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Since the Iran war began late last month, it has threatened shipping across the Middle East\u2019s two most important maritime chokepoints \u2013 the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb \u2013 through which much of Asia\u2019s energy imports and manufactured exports flow.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">For Gulf states and their major trading partners in Asia, the conflict is forcing a hard question: what, if anything, can protect supply chains if US security guarantees can no longer be taken for granted?<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Analysts say the usual answers \u2013 stockpiles, alternative transport corridors or new security arrangements \u2013 offer only limited protection against the kind of disruption now unfolding, which could persist even after the war ends.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The vulnerability is not new. Since the \u201ctanker war\u201d turned the Persian Gulf into a battlefield during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, it has been clear to governments in the Gulf and Asia that shared supply chains are exposed to disruption at the Strait of Hormuz, which links the Gulf to the Indian Ocean, and the Bab el-Mandeb, which connects the Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tankers sail in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/778f385d-a727-48cd-9bbe-631d2f2d8ee5_343ac9a7.jpg\" title=\"Tankers sail in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters\"\/>Tankers sail in the Gulf, near the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from northern Ras al-Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Over the next four decades, as two-way trade boomed and economic interdependence deepened, repeated conflicts in the Middle East reinforced the need for Gulf states and Asian economies to work together to reduce that risk.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Little, however, was done. Instead, the prevailing assumption was that the US, through its vast network of military bases across the region, would prevent a belligerent nation such as Iran from imposing a stranglehold on trade passing through Hormuz.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since the Iran war began late last month, it has threatened shipping across the Middle East\u2019s two most&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19992,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[2329,9989,488,9990,9988,262,359,102,379,9987,34,37,49,39,55,153],"class_list":{"0":"post-19991","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-persian-gulf","8":"tag-abu-dhabi","9":"tag-ahmed-aboudouh","10":"tag-asia","11":"tag-bab-el-mandeb","12":"tag-burton","13":"tag-china","14":"tag-gulf","15":"tag-hormuz","16":"tag-houthis","17":"tag-imec","18":"tag-iran","19":"tag-israel","20":"tag-middle-east","21":"tag-persian-gulf","22":"tag-russia","23":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116231763555862276","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19991","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19991\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}