The US still imports the kind of crude pumped in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and any disruption to the region’s oil exports would drive prices up at American pumps, writes Julian Lee.

There is hardly a more politically-charged fulcrum of international affairs in the world than the Straits of Hormuz in the Middle East.

Iran has test-fired a range of weapons during military exercises near the Strait of Hormuz, the passageway for one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.

THE US Navy has said it is searching for two Iraqi naval vessels that could be trying to lay mines “anywhere” in the Gulf.

Darryll Holland will appeal on Wednesday against the one-day ban he received at Southwell last week for alleged careless riding on Hormuz.