Around a fifth of the world’s oil and gas usually flows through the narrow waterway between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), but traffic has almost entirely halted following Iran’s threats to “set fire” to ships.
Traffic through the strait has almost completely halted following Iran’s threats.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said the US Navy will protect ships in the region “if necessary” in a bid to stop the energy supply crunch sparked by the war.
He said Washington will provide risk insurance “at a very reasonable price” to all shipping firms in the region to “ensure the FREE FLOW of ENERGY to the WORLD”.
Stock markets have fallen sharply since the US and Israel attacked Iran over the weekend.
South Korea’s Kospi was automatically halted for 20 minutes, as part of a mechanism that is triggered by major falls.
It was the first time the exchange’s so-called circuit breaker had been activated since August 2024.
Tehran has retaliated with strikes across the Middle East, causing major disruption to shipping and commercial flights.
The conflict has weighed heavily on the shares in export-reliant countries like South Korea and Japan, which are especially vulnerable to geopolitical shocks that put shipments at risk.