Overview

• Supreme National Security Council approval is required before Iran can implement a closure of the 33-kilometre-wide Strait of Hormuz.
• About 20 million barrels of oil transit the chokepoint daily and Brent crude briefly topped $80 as traders priced in potential supply losses.
• Washington has called on Beijing to dissuade Tehran from executing what US officials describe as “economic suicide.”
• India’s petroleum minister says Delhi has diversified energy sources and maintains several weeks of fuel reserves to weather any cutoff.
• Energy analysts judge a sustained blockade unlikely because it would inflict severe self-harm on Iran’s economy and risk military escalation.