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
Persian Gulf naming dispute "Persian Gulf" as the "Conventional" name, along with 14 "Variant" names in different languages, such as "Gulf of Iran", "Gulf of Ajam", "Gulf of Basra", "Arabian Gulf", "Persian-Arabian Gulf", "Gulf of Fars", and "Farsi Gulf". In "Persian Gulf States Country Studies" published in 1993 by the Federal Research Division of the U.S. Library of Congress, the authors follow the practise of the BGN by using "Persian Gulf" while acknowledging that the governments of Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Bahrain "officially reject the use of the term Persian Gulf—as do other Arab governments—and refer to that body of water