“The scale of what is at stake cannot be overstated,” said Hakan Kaya, senior portfolio manager at investment management firm Neuberger Berman

The Strait of Hormuz, a 39 km-wide waterway flanked by Iran to the north and Oman and the UAE to the south, is a passage through which one-fifth of the world’s oil flows each day.…

Vessels would be sitting ducks if foreign naval forces attempted to reopen the waterway before a cessation of hostilities, experts say.