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Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/03/25/iran-hormuz-energy-pipeline-bypass/
Build Alternative Pipelines to Make the Strait of Hormuz Irrelevant
(Washington Post) Maj. (ret.) John Spencer - For decades, the world has accepted a dangerous reality: One of its most important energy arteries runs through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint repeatedly threatened by Iran. As long as the world depends on a narrow waterway, energy markets will remain vulnerable to coercion. The answer is to build infrastructure that makes the Strait of Hormuz strategically irrelevant. Some bypass routes already exist. Saudi Arabia operates the East-West Pipeline, which carries oil from the kingdom's Gulf oil fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The UAE built the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline from Abu Dhabi directly to the Gulf of Oman. The Strait of Hormuz is a problem of infrastructure and strategy. The world has spent decades defending it. Now, the world needs to start investing in ways of bypassing it. The writer is chair of urban warfare studies at West Point's Modern War Institute.