The world’s critical maritime chokepoints determine who controls the flow of oil, gas, and commerce between the Middle East, Europe, China, and the United States. The five most important chokepoints arethe Strait of Hormuz, the Strait of Malacca, Bab el-Mandeb and the Suez Canal, the Strait of Gibraltar, andthe Panama Canal. Together, they carry the overwhelming majority of the world’sseaborne energy trade, and within roughly fourteen months, the Trump administration has established or deepened U.S. military positioning at each of them.

The Strait of Hormuz is the single most important chokepoint, through which every barrel leaving the Persian Gulf passes. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE, Kuwait, and Iran all export through it, with no realistic overland alternative at comparable volume.

The Strait of Malacca is the primary route from the Middle East to China, Japan, and South Korea, carrying 80% of China’s energy imports, a dependency so acute that Hu Jintao coined the term “Malacca Dilemma” in 2003. Bab el-Mandeb and the Suez Canal function as a single linked system: all oil moving from the Gulf to Europe that does not go around Africa must pass through both.

The Strait of Gibraltar is the exit from the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, through which all Suez-routed oil heading to the U.S. East Coast or northern Europe must pass. The Panama Canal handles 5% of all maritime trade and 40% of all U.S. container ship traffic.

At thePanama Canal, a BlackRock-led consortium reached a$19 billion dealin early March 2025 to acquire CK Hutchison Holdings’ port operations on both ends of the canal, displacing Chinese-linked management. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed asecurity cooperation agreementwith Panama’s President José Raúl Mulino on April 9, 2025, and the first official U.S.-Panama Special Operations Forces talks were held on February 18, 2025, followed by joint training in marksmanship, demolition, and battlefield medicine.

China’s Ministry of Commerce announced it would oversee any port sale, and a definitive agreement had not been reached as of mid-2025, with Beijing pushing to include state-owned China COSCO Shipping in any transaction. Panama retains sovereignty and formal operational control under the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, but U.S. military and economic influence over the canal has increased substantially.

On February 28, 2026, U.S.-Israeli strikes underOperation Epic Furyhit more than 500 targets across Iran, including leadership bunkers, missile sites, and nuclear facilities, killing Supreme Leader Khamenei. Iran closed the Strait ofHormuzin retaliation, a waterway through which 25% of the world’s seaborne oil trade and 20% of global LNG had previously passed.

Following the failure of ceasefire talks in Islamabad, Trump announced a naval blockade of all ships transiting to or from Iranian ports beginning April 13, creating what analysts describe as a dual blockade. The U.S. Navy is blockading Iranian ports while Iran restricts Gulf passage. Defense Secretary Hegseth declared that “no one sails from the Strait of Hormuz to anywhere in the world without the permission of the United States Navy,” and confirmed the blockade had gone global, with two Iranian dark-fleet vessels seized in the Indo-Pacific. As of late April, the blockade hadredirected 33 shipsand boarded three vessels.

The blockade has cut an estimated $150 million per day in Iranian oil revenue, eliminated China’s access to discounted Iranian crude, and rendered unenforceable Iran’s parliament-codifiedtransit toll scheme, under which payments were accepted in Chinese yuan routed through Kunlun Bank via CIPS, outside SWIFT, as a vehicle for RMB internationalization.

TheDefense Intelligence Agencyhas told Congress that Iran still retains thousands of missiles and one-way attack UAVs despite degradation, and Pentagon officials have said mine clearance could takesix monthsafter hostilities end. The strait remains contested.

Source: The Gateway Pundit