For generations, Iran has anchored its security doctrine on a single geographic fact: that a fifth of the world's energy must pass through a narrow strait it can threaten to close. Now, as Gulf neighbors quietly construct alternative pipelines that could render Hormuz strategically marginal within a decade, Tehran finds itself confronting a paradox of its own making — the very act of brandishing the lever has compelled the world to engineer its way around it. Senior Iranian officials, speaking with unusual candor, are acknowledging that economic collapse poses a graver threat to national survi
Iran's Hormuz leverage erodes as Gulf states build alternative pipelines
Economic hardship and potential hunger affecting ordinary Iranians as sanctions and economic pressures mount, with officials warning of governance collapse if living standards continue declining.