After the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding to end the war, Aslı Aydıntaşbaş spoke to Kari Heerman and Bruce Jones about its geopolitical implications, building on their recent articles in the series “Blowback: How the Iran war may change the world.”
JONES: I think this episode has shown Iran that it can flex the major muscle that it has, which is to constrict shipping through Hormuz
HEERMAN: Iran did not only assert control over the strait, it also experimented a little bit with politically conditioned access, offering discounts to its friends and higher rates to its enemies. And that’s a major departure from not only the status quo ante, it also presents major challenges for international maritime law.
JONES: Ninety percent of world trade flows by sea. Seventy percent of world energy, and 99 percent percent of the world’s data that flows on the seabed cables, all of that is vulnerable.
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