Border issues are ubiquitous but seem to have taken on renewed relevance with the Israeli-American war against Iran, launched on February 28, which quickly led to a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, causing a cascade of shortages and price hikes in global markets for strategic goods, primarily oil. In fact, 20% of the world’s oil consumption passes through this strait. While it is an international border, it is above all—and at the same time—a strategic chokepoint, like others that exist (Bab el-Mandeb, Suez, Malacca, Gibraltar, the Dardanelles, etc.).

Iran’s exploitation of the Strait of Hormuz for political purposes, as well as Israel’s wars in the region following October 7, 2023, clearly link geography, politics, and identity. Indeed, the concepts explored within the GMO Borders Chair allow us to pose three interdependent questions: What kind of border-forming process (bordering) are we dealing with? What is its politicalordering? And what are the consequences for the relationship to the Other (othering)?

Looking at these points, we see that the strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz is linked to the export of hydrocarbons from the Gulf, and that a breakdown of borders caused by war tends to generate alternative or circumventing strategies while awaiting a re-establishment of borders that will emerge from a diplomatic process. However, the war against Iran has shown that the power to impose an order on this strait cannot be reduced to the imposition of American will by force, as Iran has demonstrated its ability to maneuver in the face of Israeli-American bombings. Even more problematic, this war has inspired imitators applying the “weak-to-strong” strategy: Yemen’s Houthis carried out a forceful takeover on September 11, 2026, in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, blocking the other main route for Saudi crude oil exports. These conflicts both generate and are the result of the identity-based relationship with the Other—a relationship that can be discerned in the rhetoric of American, Israeli, Iranian, and Houthi leaders regarding their respective enemies. Strategic borders such as certain straits thus raise questions about power dynamics just as much as they reflect the use of space for political purposes in the context of mobilizations where the “Other” serves as a foil.

Daniel MEIER, Holder of the “GMO Borders” Junior Professorship at Cerdap2 and Director of the MMO Master’s Program.

Photo credit (illustrative): Paul Harrison / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0