rump's nuclear initiative should be understood within that larger framework. The administration is not abandoning oil and gas in favor of nuclear power. It is simultaneously encouraging fossil-fuel production, LNG exports, nuclear construction and expansion of the infrastructure required to support them.

Location: Strait of Hormuz. Time: 0300 hours.A fully laden tanker makes slow headway through the darkness when a violent explosion tears through the silence. Steel shudders, alarms begin to clang, and the crew races to emergency stations. Within minutes the operator, charterer, insurers, cargo owners, financiers, and governments are responding. What began as an attack on a single ship has become an international commercial event.

Taken together, these developments suggest that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer simply the focal point of a regional military confrontation. It has become a laboratory demonstrating how modern maritime commerce responds to sustained geopolitical competition. The implications extend well beyond the Gulf.