Strait of Hormuz Strait of Hormuz The Strait of Hormuz ( "Tangeye Hormoz" ) is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategically important choke points. On the north coast lies Iran, and on the south coast the United Arab Emirates and Musandam, an exclave of Oman. At its narrowest, the strait has a width of . About 20% of the world's petroleum (about 35% of the petroleum traded by sea) passes through the strait, making it a
Piracy in the Persian Gulf coast of Fars during the reign of Yazdegerd II. Ibn Hawqal, a 10th-century history chronicler, alludes to piracy in the Persian Gulf in his book "The Renaissance Of Islam". He describes it as such: In Richard Hodges' commentary on the increase of trade in the Persian Gulf around 825, he makes references to Bahraini pirate attacks on ships on ships from China, India and Iran. He believes the pirates were attacking ships travelling from Siraf to Basra. Marco Polo made observations of piracy in the Persian Gulf. He states that in the seventh century, the islands of Bahrain were held