The Iranians are floating the idea of closing the Straits of Hormuz.
The decision to close the Strait, through which around 20 per cent of global oil and gas demand flows, could see the world thrown into disaster.
www.dailymail.co.uk
The Strait is a pivotal trade route for the world, with around a fifth of the world's oil flowing through the tiny sea passage, along with the same proportion of all Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), making it the 'world's most important oil transit chokepoint'.
Gerrit Heinemann told Bild that should Iran choose to close the Strait, which borders the country, the results would be 'catastrophic.'
'[It would be] worse than Corona and Putin combined! The second episode of the ongoing crisis would be even more severe than what we experienced at the beginning of the Ukraine war and during the Corona years. A disaster,'
He told the newspaper: 'A large part of the global supply chains runs through the affected region. This not only dramatically impacts energy supplies, but also the flow of goods.
'All of a sudden, all the crises we had just overcome would return: the energy crisis, inflation, disrupted supply chains, and now the threat of mass unemployment.'
At its thinnest, it is just 21 miles wide, and the shipping lanes in the Strait are even smaller.
This makes it incredible vulnerable to attacks, which international leaders have already warned.
Iraq's foreign minister Fuad Hussein warned of a 'global energy crisis' if the Strait is closed.
Cutting the world off from such a large source of energy would massively affect economies across the world, which still largely rely on non-renewable sources like oil for their needs.
Prof. Dr.
Gerrit Heinemann is Professor of Business Administration, Management and Commerce as well as founder and head of the eWeb Research Center at Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences. He is one of the most distinguished retail experts in the German-speaking world.
