Since February 28, 2026, after the joint attack by Israel and the United States against several locations in Iran, our daily lives have been flooded with various news, in which the Strait of Hormuz appears associated with oil and millions, whether in barrels or dollars. As the French-American writer Anaïs Nin explained to us, we do not see the world as it is, but as we are. As a geologist, I cannot look at the Strait of Hormuz — the gateway to the Persian Gulf, which has been actively disputed by Iran and the United States of America — nor to the Bab al-Mandab Strait — which the Houthis have used to condition access to the Red Sea — or to the enormous quantities of oil there without remembering the surprising story that made it all possible.
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