The Straitjacket of Hormuz is indicative of the lack of understanding Trump has of the Middle East - Ismail Mulla
Chances are very few people will have known much about the Strait of Hormuz until this week, when ramifications of the strikes launched by the US and Israel at Iran became clear.
The Gulf is a unique location. Over the past decade I’ve made frequent visits to the emirate of Sharjah whilst my dad used to live and work there.
The apartments provided a view of the Arabian Gulf. On a good day you could see the southern tip of Iran. Take a walk along the promenade and you’d see a hubbub of activity. Fishing boats coming in with their latest catch. Accompanied by boats carrying an array of other goods from Asia and beyond. But the vessels that really stood out were the oil tankers. Black and copper coloured, they brought with them an acrid industrial smell.
It was quite a sight nestled in between sandy white tourist beaches upon which the turquoise water gently lapped.
The abiding memory that I have from my dozen or so trips to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was just how clustered and diverse this part of the world was.
After last Saturday’s military action by the US and Israel, it hit home that this was the first time war had hit a part of the world, which I had become intimately familiar with. Worse still, friends that I’ve made in the emirate now live under the cloud of war.
Initially, when the Iranian regime lashed out, I suspected that it would have just Dubai in its crosshairs but seeing parts of Sharjah on fire showed that this wasn’t just about sending a message to the UAE or any other Arab state but striking fear across the Gulf.
Speaking of messages, what are allies of the US going to make of the fact that they’re paying the penalty for President Donald Trump’s impetuous actions? There’s little coming from the White House about how Trump’s administration is going to protect surrounding Arab states from Iran’s ire.
Frankly, Trump’s miscalculation on Iran shows that this is a misunderstood part of the world. I doubt that Trump even knows that this was once renowned as a centre for pearling. Or that there are historic neighbourhoods like the Al-Fahidi district in Dubai, which the then Prince, now King, Charles helped save from demolition. Nevermind the archaeological digs carried out by European universities in places like Mleiha that have found neolithic remnants.
This part of the world isn’t just some isolated theatre for war. The conflict isn’t in some abstract place on a map. I come back to the oil tankers that I used to see docked on the coastline.
Oil prices spiked at the beginning of the week with US oil trading 7.4 per cent higher while international standard Brent was up 7.7 per cent. Gas prices leapt at the fastest pace since the outbreak of war in Ukraine. With the Strait of Hormuz, the narrowest point of which is approximately around 21 miles, becoming the straitjacket to energy supply. We’ll be paying the price.
It’s absurd to think that Trump was convinced that he could implement regime change from the skies. Just as absurd as him petulantly insinuating that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been slow to support US efforts because of his fear of alienating British Muslims.
The overwhelming majority being Sunni. Hardly natural bedfellows of the Shia theocracy in Iran. Especially after the brutality exhibited by the Iranian regime during the Syrian civilian war.
The Middle East was already a powder keg ready to go off, Trump has poured fuel on it and lit the touchpaper. Let’s hope this does not lead to another ugly sectarian war.
My sympathy with all those British citizens that are trapped out in the region. And my heart goes out to those that aren’t able to flee.
Ismail Mulla is comment editor for The Yorkshire Post.