I have always believed that anyone who aspires to elected office should have strong foundations in world history, ethics, geography and a psychological test. It’s also an obligation as citizens to educate ourselves as much as possible in order to follow the direction of our country and help alter any course that will get us and other countries into trouble. The present maritime catastrophe is a case in point.
Our leaders, whom we depend on, were totally oblivious to the millennia of trade that sailed through the Strait of Hormuz and our naval vulnerability and inability to keep the strait from gridlock. We are not discussing politics here, just the historical patterns we could have learned from.
The Gulf of Persia and its outlet to the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean have been in constant use for well over 5,000 years, which is 4,920 years more than I am. Civilizations surrounding the Mediterranean opened up overland routes across the deserts of what today is Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern areas to reach the Gulf of Persia. There were overland camel caravans that brought commodities all the way by camel or to be offloaded on rivers like the Tigris and Euphrates that emptied into the Gulf and then loaded on larger craft to head further east to the riches of India and beyond. For many years, history has ignored the interconnectedness of world trade in ancient times. Egypt, Rome, Persia, etc., all knew the empires in the far east. Alexander the Great even reached India with his armies. Though communication between these empires was sparse because of distance and a decided lack of cell phones, trade was continuous and only stopped during times of political unrest, like now!
The important trade goods coming from the Mediterranean were cotton, dates, pottery, grain, weapons, wines, olives and olive oil. In reverse came silks, damask (a wearable material made with gold and silver), exotic spices, copper, ivory, and precious and semi-precious stones. Some of this was traded all the way from China by India and was then sent forward with a hefty profit to be consumed by the Mediterranean empires. Along the way, everyone took their vig. This system of desert to maritime commerce was almost infallible until the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire and the rise of the Muslim empires, which quickly gained control of the trade routes to the Persian Gulf. It wasn’t that they cut off the trade through the Persian Gulf. It was that they demanded a bigger portion of the profits, making imports unaffordable. The countries that arose out of the ashes of Rome had to find a way to cut them out, hence the real reason for the Crusades. They were wars that were more about trade than God, but they failed. By 1400 Venice and Genoa had fleets that went by sea to the Empire of Eastern Rome and restored a steady flow of goods, That, is until the Muslims conquered the Eastern Roman Empire in 1453 and countries like Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Spain and Portugal had to find a new sea route to the far east of India, China, etc. birthing new the era of exploration.
The predominant sea powers became Britain, Spain, Holland and Portugal. For a time, they kept the Gulf of Persia open with their sea power, but slowly the Straits of Hormuz became a backwater. Then, in 1908, British geologist George Reynolds struck oil in Iran and shortly founded British Petroleum, strangely not Iran Oil. In 1927, oil was discovered in Iraq and then in Saudi Arabia in 1938. The best way to get it out was to pipe it to the Gulf of Persia and build tanker ships to carry the liquid gold to thirsty industrialized countries around the world. Most of the profits naturally did not go to the countries in which the oil was found. British and American Oil companies bargained their way into controlling all of it. Sure, a few rulers got very rich, but there was not enough to go around to the commoners. But don’t think they didn’t notice. The Brits and Americans made sure they had their own buddies in place. During WWII, the vast oil-producing areas of the Middle East were occupied by the Allies, allegedly to keep them out of the hands of the Fascists and keep the Allies rolling into Germany and Italy. After we won the war, we didn’t let go lightly. Ship after ship laden with oil still plows through the Strait of Hormuz every day.
Change did eventually come. Dictators like Saddam were initially supported by America. We even supplied him with oil drilling bits from George H. Bush’s company and weapons and more weapons. Then Iran fell apart and the new Ayatollah Khomeini government nationalized its oil fields. But the oil kept shipping through the strait. The world was addicted. Bigger and bigger tankers were built and we thought it would go on forever. But the situation between the USA and Iran only grew worse. Oil was weaponized by both sides. Iran nationalized their oil, took American diplomats hostage and then slowly started developing nuclear capabilities. The USA and its ally Israel feared the worst. It was back and forth for years. At times, it looked like it could be resolved and finally it couldn’t. As war plans were made, it seems that Israel and America did not consider Iran’s potential lock hold on the Straits of Hormuz and its ability to stop the flow of 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas needs.
The Strait is only 30 miles across, of which only 21 miles is navigable by today’s jumbo oil tankers. The high ground overlooking the strait is the very difficult terrain of the mountainous region on the Iranian side. Though this tragic war has Israel and the USA militarily in a more powerful position in terms of weapons, Iran is in a better position to keep the Strait closed as a bargaining chip. Any ship that tries to exit can be neutralized by a shoulder-fired missile or hit by a mine deployed by a small Iranian boat. It doesn’t take much to keep all those ships penned in. It’s like this entire situation is a giant “Catch 22’’. How could our military not see this? We can’t even risk our military ships going through the Strait. We allowed ourselves to become “Goliath” and Iran became “David” with his little sling shot. With all our sea power, the admirals, the Pentagon, and the Secretary of Defense, someone should have known wars aren’t won by bluster, but by brains and that once they started, a war is hard to contain. The Battle of Actium in 31 BC involved two navies. The larger navy was commanded by Cleopatra and Mark Anthony with 600 battle-ready ships. The opposing side was Octavian (Late, Augustus Caesar) with 400 quickly built and rather shoddy ships in comparison. The trick was that Octavian boxed Cleopatra and Anthony into a bay, leaving them little room to navigate or fight. Egypt fell to Rome and Cleopatra and Anthony committed suicide. In the end, it was tactics, not bluster. The Strait of Hormuz mirrors Actium. Knowledge of history could have helped avoid this maritime debacle.
Epilogue – At the time of this writing, there is a chance of a treaty ending the war between Iran and the USA. Iran wants to charge ships to go through the straits. The rest of the deal, we citizens do not know. It does not cover ending Israeli wars in Lebanon, Gaza, the West Bank and their war with Iran. Hopefully, peace will come to the entire region.
Copyright 2026 by Mark C. Nuccio. All rights reserved.