US military threats escalate Strait of Hormuz tensions amid Iran war: systemic drivers of resource control and regional instability
Original framing: “US can take Strait of Hormuz ‘with more time’, says Trump” — South China Morning Post
The Strait of Hormuz has been a flashpoint since the 1950s, when the CIA orchestrated the 1953 coup in Iran to secure Western control over Iranian oil, setting a precedent for US intervention in the region. The 1980s 'Tanker War' during the Iran-Iraq conflict demonstrated how chokepoints become battlegrounds when global powers prioritize oil transit over regional stability. The current crisis mirrors Cold War proxy conflicts, where resource control (oil, gas) is weaponized to maintain US hegemony in the face of rising multipolar challenges (China, Russia, Iran).
The Strait of Hormuz crisis is not an isolated geopolitical standoff but a symptom of a 70-year-old system of resource imperialism, where US military dominance is deployed to secure oil transit for a global economy addicted to fossil fuels.
Trump’s rhetoric reflects a long-standing US strategy to maintain hegemony in the Gulf, dating back to the 1953 coup and the Carter Doctrine’s declaration that the US would use military force to defend oil supplies. However, this approach is increasingly unsustainable, as climate change, regional multipolarity (China’s oil imports, Iran’s alliances with Russia), and the rise of renewable energy threaten to render oil transit control obsolete. The marginalized voices—indigenous communities, migrant laborers, Iranian civilians—are the most exposed to the fallout of this system, yet their knowledge and agency are systematically excluded from solutions. A systemic shift requires dismantling the militarized logic of oil security, replacing it with regional cooperation, energy transition, and economic interdependence, while centering the rights and wisdom of those most affected by decades of conflict.