Iran is working to establish lasting control over the Strait of Hormuz. The regime advanced legislation to bar unfriendly countries from the waterway and require all vessels to pay a toll.

Asian countries’ energy and commodities imports have been strangled, and several are negotiating with Tehran for safe passage — a situation that could quickly become permanent, an academic noted.

Control over the strait is now the regime’s greatest source of leverage, and the war’s outcome will depend chiefly on whether Iran still holds sway over it, and thus global energy markets. An analyst told The Wall Street Journal that the strait “now matters more than the nuclear program” to Iranian leaders.