How a Cornered Iran Could Wreak Havoc on Global Oil Trade

US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities are sharpening the focus on one option Iran has yet to really deploy in the conflict: disrupting regional oil trade, especially through the critical Strait of Hormuz.

Iran has over the years threatened multiple times to shut the strait — a narrow stretch of water through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply flows each day. But in practice, Tehran has numerous less-drastic options at its disposal to calibrate a response that hurts its enemies while limiting the impact on allies like China, its biggest oil buyer.