Millions of barrels of oil and gas are being held up as war breaks out over the major shipping route, with maritime traffic reportedly dropping 80 per cent

Spike follows claims by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards they struck three US and UK oil tankers in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz

The narrow shipping route on Iran’s southern border carries one fifth of global seaborne crude oil, one fifth of LNG shipments and one third of the most widely used fertiliser