MacroVoices #541 Dr. Anas Alhajji: Bab el-Mandeb: The Next Oil Chokepoint Nobody's Watching

The Strait of Hormuz crisis serves as a strategic instrument of U.S. statecraft designed to assert dominance in global energy and AI sectors, rather than a direct response to Iranian nuclear proliferation. Energy market expert Dr. Anas Alhajji argues that the U.S. intentionally facilitated the closure of the strait to signal power to China, though the situation has since spiraled due to uncontrollable IRGC extremist factions. The conflict has now expanded to the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb, where potential insurance cancellations threaten to disrupt global crude flows. While crude supplies remain adequate, the global market faces a critical bottleneck in refined product capacity. China has effectively mitigated these disruptions by leveraging domestic production and floating storage, highlighting the necessity for consuming nations to prioritize energy security through strategic petroleum reserves rather than relying solely on vulnerable maritime chokepoints.