Tanker operators in the Strait of Hormuz are facing higher shipping and insurance costs, despite a drop in oil prices, as investors wait to see what happens to the world’s most important crude chokepoint after the U.

The Strait of Hormuz is between Oman and Iran, which boasts a fleet of fast-attack boats and thousands of naval mines as well as missiles that it could use to make the strait impassable, at least for a time.

Washington's strikes on Iran stoked fears that Iran could retaliate by closing the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway between Iran and Oman through which around 20 per cent of the oil and gas consumed globally flows.