Middle East conflict: Why is Bahrain leading the campaign to reopen Strait of Hormuz?

Bahrain's Foreign Minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, warned that the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, driven by tensions with Iran, is threatening global stability by pushing millions into poverty and food insecurity.

He emphasised that this is a global emergency, not a regional dispute, with 4 million in the Arab world potentially affected.

“Closing the Strait does not target any one party but constitutes a direct threat to the Global South, whose populations will bear the heaviest burden,” Al Zayani stated, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Bahrain on failed UN resolution

A Bahrain-backed UN Security Council resolution addressing the crisis was blocked by Russia and China on Tuesday. A draft resolution put forward by Bahrain and backed by the United States secured 11 votes in favour, with two opposed and two abstentions.

Bahrain is the current chair of the UN Security Council.

Al Zayani said Gulf nations “regret” the result.

Speaking on behalf of oil-exporting Gulf countries, Al Zayani warned that the failure to adopt the resolution “sends the wrong signal to the world”.

"This signals that the threat to international waterways can pass without any decisive action by the international organization responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security," he mentioned.

US Ambassador Mike Waltz stated that the United States stands in solidarity with Bahrain and the people of the Gulf “at this moment of reckoning.” Addressing the Council, he noted that 47 years ago, the Iranian regime’s first major action was the hostage-taking of dozens of Americans.

He stated, “Now it’s taking the Strait of Hormuz hostage, and with it, attempting to take the world’s economy hostage. Well, colleagues, that may be its last act. We’ll see”, noting that “the Strait of Hormuz is too vital to the world to be used as hostage, to be choked, to be weaponized by any one State.”

The vote came hours before the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday in an 11th-hour bid to avoid all-out destruction threatened by US President Donald Trump.

Since the conflict began on 28 February, Iran has largely restricted access to the Strait, causing a spike in global oil prices. The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway about 34 km wide between Iran and Oman, serves as a crucial link connecting the Gulf to the Indian Ocean. It is a key transit route for roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply, along with other essential goods such as fertilisers.

Meanwhile, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS, citing an unnamed senior Iranian official, Tehran has agreed under a ceasefire deal with the United States to permit a maximum of 15 ships per day to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.