Strait of Hormuz: Why the narrow waterway is at stake as Israel-Iran tensions rise
Amid the escalating violence between Israel and Iran, several photos emerged showing three ships on fire in the Gulf of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz.
British maritime security firm Ambrey also said it was aware of an incident that occurred 22 nautical miles east of Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates.
Hindustan Times cannot verify the authenticity of the photos at the moment.
A social media user posted pictures of the ships on fire on X (formerly Twitter) and wrote: "Photos are currently circulating which appear to show three ships on fire off the coast of Iran in the Gulf of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz. NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) Map appearing to confirm three fires in the Gulf of Oman."
Also Read: Israel releases video of strikes on F-14 jets in Tehran, says drone attack was thwarted
Satellite imagery from NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) suggested three red blots in the Gulf of Oman near the Strait of Hormuz.
The fire incident near the Gulf of Oman has raised concerns amid the ongoing crisis in the Middle East as the Strait of Hormuz remains a critical gateway between Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.
Here is all you need to know about the significance of the Strait of Hormuz amid the Israel-Iran tensions:
- Strait of Hormuz is the narrow waterway between Iran and United Arab Emirates. The strait, just 20 nautical miles between the two countries, is a crucial link between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
- It is a significant and strategic route for shipping in the region as around a fifth of the global oil shipments pass via the strait each year.
- Last week, when Israel and Iran started exchanging missiles, Tehran said it was considering closing the Strait of Hormuz.
Also Read: Fear of Israel-Iran war grows as US, China issue grim 'evacuate Tehran' warning
- The closing of the 'world's most important oil transit chokepoint' could snowball into a global crisis shooting up oil prices and risk of escalation in the Middle East.
- The narrow sea passage is also a crucial route for the movement of natural gas and over 3,000 ships cross the passage each month.
- The strait has never been shut in the previous conflicts, including the Iran-Iraq conflict in the 1980s, where lakhs of people were killed on both the sides.
- However, the closing of Strait of Hormuz would not be an isolated incident in the ongoing crisis in the region, as the Houthis in Yemen have been targeting ships at Bab al-Mandeb Strait over demands of Gaza ceasefire.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Weaponising hunger: Frederick Forsyth's account of a starved region the world ignored
The late Frederick Forsyth was best known for his thriller novels. But his most remarkable work might have been his first book, The Biafra Story (1969), reporting about the region that tried to break away from Nigeria, but was brutally subdued through weaponisation of famine stands out because it wasn't just man made, but also involved deliberate malnutrition of infants. Forsyth explains how the Eastern Region of Nigeria, which tried to become Biafra, 'was more or less self-supporting in food, being able to provide all of its carbohydrates and fruit, but importing quantities of meat from the cattle-breeding north of Nigeria, and bringing in by sea dried stockfish from Scandinavia, and salt'.Biafra's relative fertility and proximity to oilfields encouraged its leaders' hopes of independence. The actual cause was the marginalisation of Nigeria's Igbo minority by northern Nigerian communities. This again was due to the British colonial habit of patching together a country with little thought of those living in it, and then leaving with little care for the consequences. Unlike with India, the British sought to retain influence in Nigeria because of oil. Forsyth blames Biafra's tragedy on the military and diplomatic support from the UK to Nigeria's leaders 'to cover up that the UK's assessment of the Nigerian situation was an enormous judgmental screw-up'.The region's main crop was cassava, which was processed to make an easy-to-cook starch called gari . Cassava tubers had been introduced to West Africa from Brazil, possibly by returned slaves who knew how to process it to remove toxins. In Longthroat Memories , Yemisi Aribisala's collection of essays on Nigerian food, she quotes a friend of her grandfather to show how much the Biafrans came to depend on gari in the depths of the conflict: 'You dared not make a fire. You would never be that foolish… You made cold-water gari with water from the stream or rainwater, or you made something close to the gari in peacetime by using hot urine.' For a bowl, he recommended taking the helmet from a dead soldier 'with great reverence, if there was a head to talk of, and it became your pot and plate and bowl'.For all the horrors of surviving this way, adults could do it — but children could not. Gari was carbohydrates and children need protein for growth, but the Nigerian government cut off access to meat and dried fish. Forsyth describes how children started developing what would become the key image of the Biafran famine, and others to follow in Africa: 'A reddening of the hair, paling of the skin, swelling of the joints and bloating of the flesh as it distends with water.'This was kwashiorkor , a deficiency disease that occurs when children are given carbohydrates, but not enough protein. Cicely Williams, the Jamaican paediatrician who first described the disease, used a word from Ghana which translates grimly as 'the disease of the deposed child' — meaning what happens when a child is denied breast-feeding because another child has been born. The starchy weaning food given to the first child usually lacks the nutrients of milk, leading to kwashiorkor . Images of Biafran children with kwashiorkor broke through the blackout on news imposed by Nigerian leaders and supported by their British led to a remarkable airlift to supply Biafra with protein, mostly fortified milk powder. It was organised by church groups, but implemented by mercenary pilots, who flew from the island of São Tomé, then part of writes with nuance about the mercenaries, who were there for the money, yet bringing relief. It inspired The Dogs of War , his novel about a mercenary-led coup in Africa. Biafra made the world aware of famine as a weapon of war — and yet, as Gaza shows, we have not learned how to stop it.
Scroll.in
2 hours ago
- Scroll.in
Ahmedabad plane crash: DNA confirms identities of 247 of those killed
The identities of 247 persons who died in the Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12 have been confirmed through DNA testing so far, The Hindu reported on Saturday. Among those identified, 238 persons were on board the aircraft, including 175 Indians, 52 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian, The Indian Express reported. The bodies of 232 persons have also been handed over to their families till now, Civil Hospital Superintendent Dr Rakesh Joshi told The Hindu. The families of eight victims have been asked to provide a sample of another relative for DNA testing after the initial tests did not yield a match, the newspaper quoted Dr Joshi as saying. On June 12, Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft, which was en route to London's Gatwick airport from Ahmedabad, crashed just 33 seconds after taking off. This is being viewed as the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. There were 242 people aboard the aircraft. One passenger survived with ' impact injuries '. Thirty-four persons were also killed on the ground after the plane crashed into the hostel building of the BJ Medical College and Hospital in Ahmedabad, according to Air India.
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
Patna airport faces safety risks amid urban sprawl & natural obstacles
1 2 Patna: The tragic plane crash in Ahmedabad has rekindled long-standing fears over the precarious nature of operations at Patna's Jayprakash Narayan International Airport, a facility so tightly hemmed in by urban sprawl and natural constraints that even seasoned pilots concede it offers almost no margin for error. Tucked between the lush, wildlife-rich Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park (better known as Patna zoo) to the east and the railway corridor of Phulwarisharif to the west, the airport is, by all accounts, flying on the edge. Its geographical squeeze is more than a cartographic inconvenience – it is a hazard. Short runways, tall trees, electric cables, a looming British-era clock tower and erratic light sources such as DJ laser beams during weddings all conspire to make every landing and take-off a potential challenge. "The airport is surrounded by thick settlement, making it one of the most challenging for take-offs and landings," an aviation official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "The short runway only adds to the difficulty," he added. Despite being operationally critical for Bihar, the airport continues to run on borrowed time. Runway expansion has long been discussed, but actual action remains elusive. In the wake of the June 12 AI 171 crash in Ahmedabad, which sent shockwaves across the country, officials from the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the district administration inspected Patna airport to examine possibilities for runway extension. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 오스템 임플란트 받아가세요 임플란터 더 알아보기 Undo A proposal has been drawn up yet again, but those on the ground remain sceptical. "We have heard promises before," said an airport official. "But the challenges we face demand more than paperwork and inspections," he added. Standing at 49.5 metres tall, the iconic clock tower near the Old Secretariat, built in 1917, poses a major hurdle for approaching aircraft. "It eats into our usable runway length," said Krishna Mohan Nehra, Patna's airport director. While the runway officially stretches 2,072 metres, pilots are forced to work with only 1,938 metres from the east and just 1,677 metres from the west due to the tower's presence. Nehra said the tower disrupts the standard three-degree landing approach, forcing aircraft to descend at steeper angles of up to 3.5 degrees which is risky, especially in poor weather. The Airport Environment Management Committee (AEMC), chaired by divisional commissioner Chandrashekhar Singh, has recommended reducing the tower's height by 17.5 metres. The proposal now awaits cabinet secretariat approval. "Pilots often have to go around again due to incorrect approach angles caused by the tower," an official added. Patna's airstrip is nearly 750 feet shorter than the 2,300 metres recommended by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for safe operation of commercial jets like the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737. In fact, Patna was one of four airports flagged in 2010 by the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council (CASAC) for critical safety limitations. The latest expansion proposal includes acquiring 37 acres to the east – 15 acres of which belong to the Patna zoo – and 200 metres of land towards the west, near the railway line in Phulwarisharif. District officials are eyeing sites near the Patna Golf Club to compensate the zoo for any lost land. Rajender Singh Lahauria, former airport director, supports the relocation of the zoo altogether. "The zoo director back then felt the airport operations were affecting animal breeding. Shifting the zoo and govt bungalows would make runway extension viable," he said. However, Lahauria cautioned that western expansion won't benefit landing distances due to the railway traction lines but could help with take-offs. "The real game-changer would be reducing the clock tower's height, but historically the AAI hasn't received a positive response from the state," he added. Lahauria said in 2016, a proposal was sent at his time to reduce the clock tower height by 11.5-m and land acquisition for runway extension, but nothing was done. Arvind Kumar Singh, secretary of Patna Golf Club, said they have a lease of 102.8acres of land out of which 20acres is "encroached" by zoo. "The club does not in any way interfere with flight safety funnel. Golf Club has been declared as a green belt with multiple heritage trees of over 70/80 years old. The Golf Club has given national level golfers creating a good image of emerging Bihar. We have plans to further upgrade the facility but if they take another 15-acre land, then how can we do it?" he asked. According to AAI officials, even the western extension is fraught with problems. "We can only extend by 120 metres towards Phulwarisharif. But even that will be largely unusable. There must be at least 150 metres between the runway's centreline and the railway track. Currently, we only have 70 metres and an extension would reduce it to just 39," one official said. High-tension wires along the railway line further complicate the possibility of creating a slope. Efforts to move the railway line underground were ruled out after a RITES feasibility study. "There is simply no scope westward," the official said. The eastern approach is equally complex. "When pilots land from the east, the first thing they see are tree canopies, not the runway," another official said. "Beyond the zoo, new multi-storey buildings could emerge as future obstructions. We have only surveyed within our jurisdiction, but even now, we can't use the full 2,072 metres," he added. Tree growth at the zoo poses a persistent safety threat. Regular pruning, officials say, is either delayed or ignored. At a recent AEMC meeting, the airport director stressed the urgency of compliance with the Obstacle Limitation Survey under the Aircraft Act, 1934. The forest department has been instructed to take immediate action. "Tree growth is natural, and so should be its management," said Arvind Dubey, former director of the airport. "We need the state's cooperation to ensure aircraft safety. Passenger facilities have improved, but operational safety must follow," he added. Another growing concern is the menace of laser lights from wedding venues. On April 17 this year, an IndiGo flight (6E-653) from Pune was temporarily blinded by a DJ laser beam during its approach to Patna. While the pilot managed a safe landing, the potential consequences could have been catastrophic. Following the incident, authorities banned laser lights in the airport vicinity, requiring prior police clearance for DJs and sound systems at public events. Yet enforcement remains patchy. "Laser distractions during peak wedding season can be fatal," airport officials said. Though bird-hit incidents have decreased due to tighter controls on open meat and fish shops in Phulwarisharif, danger still looms large, thanks to the nearby garbage transfer station at Gardanibagh. Only 800 metres from the airport, the site attracts birds and poses a serious threat. Divisional commissioner Singh said that a new dumping site is being constructed at Yarpur and is expected to be operational by Aug 15. "Proper waste disposal near the airport is crucial for safety," he said. This year, Patna airport has already reported seven bird-hit incidents, three of which occurred in May alone. The Ahmedabad crash also revived haunting memories of Patna's own aviation tragedy. On July 17, 2000, Alliance Air flight 7412 ploughed through a residential colony in Gardanibagh, killing over 60 people. Naveen Singh, a local, still remembers it vividly. "I was at the airport when it happened. I rushed to the site. It's an image I can't erase," he said. Akhilesh Choudhary, a 62-year-old resident of Gardanibagh, said, "The sound of aircraft engines still fills us with dread. After Ahmedabad, those old fears have returned. The authorities must take action for us and for the pilots." Ultimately, many aviation experts believe that only a greenfield airport can address Patna's aviation challenges comprehensively. "We are working within impossible constraints," said an AAI official. "The land is limited, the obstructions are permanent and the risks are real," he added.
