The Strait of Hormuz is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategically important choke points. It has been so for centuries, with vast hinterlands rich in luxury trade goods, but no easy access to lucrative trading ports. In his memoirs, Babur, the first padishah of the Mughal Empire, recounted how almonds had to be carried from the distant Ferghana region in Central Asia to Hormuz to reach markets.
is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategically important choke points.[1] It has been so for centuries, with vast hinterlands rich in luxury trade goods, but no easy access to lucrative trading ports. In his memoirs, Babur, the first padishah of the Mughal Empire, recounted how almonds had to be carried from the distant Ferghana region in Central Asia to Hormuz to reach markets.
During 2023–2025, 20% of the world's liquefied natural gas (LNG) and 25% of seaborne oil trade passed through the strait annually. The strait had never been closed for extended time during Middle East conflicts (until this month) (unlike the Straits of Tiran/Bab-el-Mandeb) though Iran occasionally had threatened to close the strait (and they did), and preparations to mine it have been undertaken.
Etymology
Persian etymology derives "Hormuz" from the Middle Persian pronunciation of the name of the Zoroastrian god Ahura Mazda. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the name derives from the local Persian word Hur-Mogh 'Place of Dates'. A theory claims that the strait of Hormuz may have been named after Ifra Hormizd, the mother of King Shapur II of Persia, who ruled between 309 and 379 AD.
In the 10th–17th centuries AD, the Kingdom of Ormus was located here. Scholars, historians and linguists derive the name "Ormuz" from the local Persian word هورمغ Hur-mogh meaning date palm.
From the 15th century onward, from a strategic point of view, the geography of the strait maintained and expanded its importance with the arrival of foreign powers such as Portugal, which maintained its presence between the 16th and 18th centuries, also provoking disputes with other emerging powers such as England when it arrived in the region in the 17th century.
Navigation
To reduce the risk of collision, ships moving through the strait follow a traffic separation scheme (TSS): inbound ships use one lane, outbound ships another, each lane being two miles wide. The lanes are separated by a two-mile-wide "median"
In 1959, Iran altered the legal status of the strait by expanding its territorial sea to 12 nmi (22 km) and declaring it would recognize only transit by innocent passage through the newly expanded area.[16] In 1972, Oman also expanded its territorial sea to 12 nmi (22 km) by decree.[16] Thus, by 1972, the Strait of Hormuz was completely "closed" by the combined territorial waters of Iran and Oman. During the 1970s, neither Iran or Oman attempted to impede the passage of warships, but in the 1980s, both countries asserted claims that were different from customary (old) law.
Oil trade flow
During 2023–2025, 20% of the world's liquefied natural gas and 25% of seaborne oil trade passes through the Strait, illustrating its important location for trade.
More than 85% of these crude oil exports went to Asian markets on a daily basis, with Japan, India, South Korea and China the largest destinations. If shipping through the Strait of Hormuz were significantly disrupted for an extended period, it could lead to a major oil supply crisis for major Asian importers such as India and China.
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What happened to the Warp Speed limit introduced in TNG? Everybodys warp 8 this, max warp that, in DS9. was it fixed in the TNG movies or did they give up on their lazy pollution metaphor?
far as i know, they ignored it as an inconvenient plot point. think a few episodes later they had a throwaway "oh we fixed that" line.
here are some nerds talking about it in more detail
Yeah, I imagine they just dropped it because it was too inconvenient to write around. Another plot point that they dropped and never revisited was the original Pregenitor race. I imagine that would be the biggest bombshell news of all time in the future, but it just never gets brought up again
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they tried breaking the speed limit in voyager and got turned into newts
Yeah, and someone mentions a spcies in tng that can go faster than them and arent turning into salamanders. I know theres no consistency across shows but was wondering if they did address the warp speed limit imposed in tng
they mention it with throwaway lines in a few episodes afterward and then the show ends and the dominion war happens.
voyager's tilting nacelles aren't explicitly stated to be about this but it's a common fan theory and something might've been written in supplemental materials somewhere.
the other non-warp things that are faster are bending space differently or otherwise asymptotically approaching infinite velocity and if federation ships were all going warp 9.9999 or 9.999999 they'd adjust the scale again since it's logarithmic or whatever anyway.
Warp 10 turned out to be a physics limit rather than a social legal limit. Guess they stopped using leaded naqauda crystals so now it doesnt pollute soace