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Transnational Thursday for March 19, 2026

Transnational Thursday is a thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or international relations history. Feel free as well to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.

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Possibly, one could argue that literally any action no matter how severe is proportionate to the long term consequence of shutting down the Hormuz strait.

The consequences are likely incredibly bad for the entire world, and apocalyptic for poorer regions.

My understanding is that Iran has not closed the strait to all countries, though.

It seems to me that they practically have and if they haven't then the blockade is meaningless because oil is fungible.

if they haven't then the blockade is meaningless because oil is fungible.

Right, but they can perhaps impose some inconvenience/cost on most hostile states and avoid imposing that on less hostile states.

It's also an easy way to demonstrate capability - a shot across the bow.

There seems to have been no such attempt thus far and i genuinely struggle to understand how it would work.