Iran’s parliament on 2025-06-22 voted to shut the Strait of Hormuz in response to US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, according to the supplied evidence and Reuters reporting cited in the source.
The vote is politically significant because the strait is one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints. Roughly a fifth of global oil consumption passes through it, so any closure would quickly be reflected in prices and shipping risk. The evidence notes that Brent crude was already trading around $77 a barrel before markets reopened, after rising more than 10 percent in the previous period of tension.
The Guardian report cited in the packet says the parliamentary vote is not binding, since the final decision rests with Iran’s supreme national security council. That detail matters. It means the move was a signal of intent and escalation rather than an automatic operational order. Even so, it was enough to unsettle traders and analysts who were already modelling a surge of several dollars a barrel at the open.
The broader concern is not just higher fuel bills. Analysts quoted in the source warned that a prolonged disruption could send oil to levels that would feed inflation and threaten global growth. JP Morgan had previously forecast a possible rise as high as $130 a barrel if a sustained Middle East conflict closed the strait for an extended period.
The vote came after the US attacked Iran in support of Israel’s conflict with Tehran, and after a period of missile and air exchanges in the region. That sequence matters because Hormuz is not just an Iranian lever; it is a route that also carries much of Iran’s own oil exports, especially to China. Some analysts therefore argued that a long-term shutdown would hurt Tehran as well as its adversaries.
That tension explains why the decision should be read as both a threat and a bargaining tool. Iran has long said it would block the strait if its interests were threatened, but turning that threat into policy would carry high costs. A closure could trigger a shock in fuel markets, raise transport costs and worsen inflation far beyond the Gulf.
For now, the key point is that Tehran’s parliament has voted for escalation but has not yet made the final operational decision. That leaves the world’s energy markets waiting on the supreme national security council and on whether Iran treats the vote as leverage or as a step toward enforcement.
