Hormuz and a handful of maritime straits around the world have served as the linchpin of global trade since the 16th century and have fuelled geopolitical rivalries throughout history. Its great colonial naval base in Asia would be in Singapore, allowing control of Malacca, through which the largest share of global maritime traffic from China now passes.

The dramatic escalation in hostilities between the US and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz will ultimately decide the fate of the crucial waterway for decades to come. Until the…

Hormuz and a handful of maritime straits around the world have served as the linchpin of global trade since the 16th century and have fuelled geopolitical rivalries throughout…