How Iran Is Holding the Strait of Hormuz Hostage | WSJ

- Iran has spent years developing weapons that could threaten the entire global economy.

And now that the country's at war, it has started to use them.

The conflict has all but frozen commercial shipping.

And at the heart of the crisis is a narrow waterway that Iran is holding hostage.

The Strait of Hormuz is the choke point leading into and out of the Persian Gulf, and it's bordered by Iran's coastline.

- And as the world is seeing, they are exercising sheer desperation in the Straits of Hormuz.

- Even though Iran doesn't have jurisdiction over the Strait, it has long threatened to use force to shut it down.

Before the war, Iran had stockpiled sea mines that it could lay across the strait, dispersed coastal defense cruise missiles that could be fired at ships from the shore, created a fleet of small boats known to swarm and threaten vessels, and deployed submarines to lurk in strategic waterways.

Iran also built an arsenal of drones, which it has used to attack civilian targets and ships.

That's a key reason why the US has been so focused on sinking Iran's Navy and destroying Iran's weapons.

- And this means going after Iran's mine laying capability and destroying their ability to attack commercial vessels.

- But so far, Iran has still been able to mount attacks, and experts say that even just the possibility that Iran has laid mines in the strait is enough to scare ships from crossing it.

The US is working on a plan to reopen the strait, and the Pentagon is moving additional marines and warships to the Middle East that could potentially help with such an effort.

But some officials say that can't happen until the shooting stops.

- As soon as it is militarily possible, the US Navy perhaps with an international coalition, will be escorting vessels through.

- So how big of a problem is this?

About a quarter of the world's oil comes from countries that border the Persian Gulf, including Iran, and ships to global markets on tankers, which of course, have to pass through the strait.

About 80% of that oil goes to Asia, according to the International Energy Agency.

Typically, hundreds of ships and more than 100 million barrels of oil a week pass through the strait.

But with shipping at a standstill, some Gulf countries like Iraq and Kuwait have cut oil production, sending economic shockwaves around the world.

That has caused oil prices to spike and forced the Trump administration to answer questions about the global impact of operation Epic Fury.

- We'll be back on track in a pretty short while.

Prices are coming down very substantially, oil will be coming down.

- [Shelby] To try and alleviate the pain, the US and IEA member countries are releasing hundreds of millions of barrels of oil from a emergency stocks.

- We're going through a short-term disruption, but it's overdue to address this Iranian threat that's festered and grown for 47 years.

- But here's the thing, no one knows how long that disruption will last, and Iran has pledged to keep fighting.

Tehran is trying to cause as much global pain as it can to both pressure and punish the US and its allies.

The regime, of course, wants the attacks to stop.

It wants its neighbors, which host US bases to kick the US military out of the region.

And it also wants compensation for the damage that has been caused by the war.

- They really are a nation of terror and hate, and they're paying a big price right now.

- President Trump has shown no signs of backing down and says the US military campaign will continue.