The Iranian Parliament has voted in support of closing the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical oil transit chokepoints, according to media reports.
Any final decision on retaliation, however, will rest with the country's Supreme National Security Council and leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The parliament vote merely advises him of the option to pursue.
"The Parliament has reached the conclusion that the Strait of Hormuz should be closed, but the final decision in this regard lies with the Supreme National Security Council," Revolutionary Guards Commander Ismail Kowsari, member of the National Security Commission of the Parliament, announced on Sunday, according to Al Arabiya and the Jerusalem Post.
The vote took place Sunday following the U.S. Operation Midnight Hammer, in which seven B2 stealth bombers flew into Iran and dropped 14 Massive Ordinance Penetrator (MOP) bombs on two of Iran's nuclear sites, including the Fordow site. A third site was hit with Tomahawk submarine-launched cruise missiles.
President Donald Trump said that the sites had been obliterated by the U.S. operation, which included 125 aircraft overall in an operation that took 25 minutes to complete. However, Trump's Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine said Sunday that it will take some time to assess the full extent of damage to the sites.
The MOP bombs used to hit the sites had never been deployed in a combat scenario prior to Saturday's strikes.
The United States on Saturday launched air strikes targeting Iran’s main nuclear sites, as Washington joined Israel’s war with Tehran in a flashpoint moment for the Middle East.
According to US President Donald Trump, the strikes “totally obliterated” Iran’s Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz nuclear sites. In response, Iran warned of “everlasting consequences”, saying that the US “betrayed diplomacy.”
On Sunday, Iran’s parliament voted to close the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas flows, Reuters reported, citing Iran’s Press TV.
On June 13, Israel launched strikes against Iran on saying it targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders during the start of a prolonged operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.
Iran, which has denied such intentions, had in the past threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz for traffic in retaliation for Western pressure. Experts have said that any closure of the strait could restrict trade and impact global oil prices.
Below are details about the strait: The strait lies between Oman and Iran and links the Gulf north of it with the Gulf of Oman to the south and the Arabian Sea beyond. It is 21 miles (33 km) wide at its narrowest point, with the shipping lane just 2 miles (3 km) wide in either direction.
About a fifth of the world’s total oil consumption passes through the strait. Between the start of 2022 and last month, roughly 17.8 million to 20.8m barrels of crude, condensate and fuels flowed through the strait daily, according to data from Vortexa.
The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq export most of their crude via the strait, mainly to Asia. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have sought to find other routes to bypass the strait.
Around 2.6m bpd of unused capacity from existing UAE and Saudi pipelines could be available to bypass Hormuz, the US Energy Information Administration said in June last year.
Qatar, among the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas exporters, sends almost all of its LNG through the strait.Iran has threatened over the years to block the strait but has never followed through.
The US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, is tasked with protecting commercial shipping in the area.
In 1973, Arab producers led by Saudi Arabia slapped an oil embargo on Western supporters of Israel in its war with Egypt.
While Western countries were the main buyers of crude produced by the Arab countries at the time, nowadays Asia is the main buyer of OPEC’s crude.
The United States more than doubled its oil liquids production in the last two decades and has turned from the world’s biggest oil importer into one of the top exporters. During the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, the two sides sought to disrupt each other’s exports in what was called the Tanker War.
In July 1988, a US warship shot down an Iranian airliner, killing all 290 aboard, in what Washington said was an accident and Tehran said was a deliberate attack.
In January 2012, Iran threatened to block the strait in retaliation for US and European sanctions. In May 2019, four vessels — including two Saudi oil tankers — were attacked off the UAE coast, outside the Strait of Hormuz.
In July 2021, an Israeli-managed oil tanker was attacked off Oman’s coast, killing two crew members, with Israel blaming Iran for the incident, which Iran denied.Three vessels, two in 2023 and one in 2024, were seized by Iran near or in the Strait of Hormuz.
On June 17, 2025, two oil tankers collided and caught fire, near the Strait of Hormuz, where electronic interference has surged during the conflict between Iran and Israel, but there were no injuries to crew or spillage reported.
