Iran has long asserted that it can shut down the Strait of Hormuz. While the strait can't be "closed" in the traditional sense - like shutting a road - Iran could attempt to make the waterway too dangerous for commercial passage, effectively disrupting global shipping.

Conflict between Israel and Iran has rekindled fears of a disruption to a narrow waterway key to the global economy. Skyscraper-sized tankers ferry roughly one-fifth of the world’s petroleum, as well as massive cargoes of natural gas,