{"id":31143,"date":"2026-08-25T18:45:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T18:45:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/?p=31143"},"modified":"2026-08-27T20:15:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T20:15:07","slug":"it-is-well-known-that-the-strait-of-hormuz-is-not-merely-a-commercial-and-oil-shipping-route-it-also-serves-as-another-type-of-passage-what-then-is-that-other-passage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/it-is-well-known-that-the-strait-of-hormuz-is-not-merely-a-commercial-and-oil-shipping-route-it-also-serves-as-another-type-of-passage-what-then-is-that-other-passage\/","title":{"rendered":"It is well known that the Strait of Hormuz is not merely a commercial and oil shipping route; it also serves as another type of passage. What, then, is that other passage?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, and most likely what you heard refers to more than one type of passage within the Strait of Hormuz<\/strong>, rather than there being a \u201csecond\u201d secret strait or a separate route exclusively for oil.<\/p>\n

There is a very important point here:<\/h4>\n

1. Shipping lanes for commercial vessels<\/h3>\n

The Strait of Hormuz has a Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS)<\/strong> approved by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) since 1968, at the initiative of Iran and Oman. It divides vessel traffic into opposing lanes to reduce the risk of collisions.<\/p>\n

Simply put:<\/p>\n

Persian Gulf \u2192 Strait of Hormuz \u2192 Gulf of Oman:<\/strong> one lane for outbound vessels, one lane for inbound vessels, with a separation zone between them.<\/p>\n

These lanes are not designated for oil alone; oil and gas tankers, commercial vessels, cargo ships, and other vessels<\/strong> use the navigation system.<\/p>\n

2. There are also \u201ccoastal routes\u201d or alternative passages<\/h3>\n

This may be what you heard about.<\/p>\n

Under normal circumstances, there is a designated navigation system. However, during the recent crisis, alternative routes or passages close to the Iranian or Omani coasts<\/strong> emerged. Under the current emergency arrangements, Iran has taken responsibility for navigation and coordination in the northern route, while Oman is responsible for the southern route.<\/p>\n

This is highly relevant to what we were discussing earlier regarding Iran\u2019s statement that Hormuz will not return to its previous status<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The situation could therefore evolve from:<\/p>\n

\u201cAll vessels use the normal international traffic system\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

to:<\/p>\n

\u201cPassage takes place through designated routes, under the coordination and management of the coastal states, particularly Iran on the northern side.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

This reportedly occurred temporarily under the 2026 arrangements, when the IMO stated that the previous Traffic Separation Scheme should not be used because of reports of mines<\/strong>, with navigation instead being organized through specific instructions and routes coordinated by the coastal states.<\/p>\n

There is another possibility that may be what you heard<\/h3>\n

If you heard that \u201cthere is another passage in Hormuz besides the commercial and oil route,\u201d<\/strong> the reference may have been to routes used by military vessels<\/strong> or to routes that naval vessels can use under certain circumstances.<\/p>\n

Here, it is important to distinguish between two things:<\/p>\n

A navigation route \u2260 a military route.<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the navigational sources I reviewed, there is no \u201csecret military channel\u201d inside the Strait of Hormuz running parallel to the commercial shipping lanes. However, military vessels have different operational capabilities and navigation procedures, and they may use routes that do not necessarily coincide with the traffic patterns of commercial tankers.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, the Strait of Hormuz is not merely an oil channel<\/strong>; it is a strategic maritime gateway connecting the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, and it is vital to a much broader range of maritime traffic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, and most likely what you heard refers to more than one type of passage within the Strait of Hormuz, rather than there being a \u201csecond\u201d secret strait or a separate route exclusively for oil. There is a very important point here: 1. Shipping lanes for commercial vessels The Strait of Hormuz has a Traffic …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":31139,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1526],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-miscellaneous-articles-"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31143"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31143\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31180,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31143\/revisions\/31180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wilayah.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}