Geopolitical oil chokepoint crisis exposes systemic fragility of fossil-fuel dependency and militarised energy governance in Gulf region

The Strait of Hormuz crisis is not an aberration but a symptom of a global energy system built on colonial extraction, militarised chokepoints, and corporate profit.

For decades, Western powers and Gulf elites have treated the strait as a resource to be controlled rather than a commons to be stewarded, a paradigm rooted in the 1953 coup in Iran and cemented by the Iran-Iraq War and subsequent sanctions. Indigenous communities, who once thrived on its waters, now face displacement, while climate change and oil pollution threaten its ecological collapse. Yet, alternative futures exist: Oman’s neutrality, Iran’s resistance narratives, and emerging renewable energy projects point to a path beyond fossil capitalism. True resolution requires dismantling the extractivist logic that frames the strait as a 'chokepoint' for oil and instead recognising it as a shared heritage—one that demands regional cooperation, indigenous leadership, and a just transition to sustainable energy. The question is whether global actors will prioritise short-term stability over long-term justice, or whether the crisis will finally force a reckoning with the systemic failures of the fossil fuel era.