DOHA, QATAR – 16 September 2026: "The Wars of the Straits – The Hormuz Case", released in Washington, D.C. yesterday, is the latest book by Roudi Baroudi, a veteran energy consultant based in Doha and Senior Fellow at the Transatlantic Leadership Network (TLN). In the book, Baroudi examines the 2026 crisis, the long history that preceded it, and possible ways to prevent future disruptions to one of the world's most strategically important waterways.
The author, who currently serves as CEO of Energy and Environment Holding, a private consultancy based in Doha, draws on more than four decades of first-hand experience in the MENA region's oil and gas sector. His career spans helping to build some of Saudi Arabia's major pipelines and refineries in the 1970s and 1980s, advising the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the European Commission on energy policy, and supporting Euro-Mediterranean and MENA countries in developing their offshore economies by settling maritime borders.
Baroudi offers a wide-ranging historical analysis, recalling the Tanker War of the 1980s and tracing the concept of “wars over straits” back nearly seven centuries to the struggle between medieval Genoa and Venice over access to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. This situates the events of 2026 within a longer context of strategic chokepoints, empires and the recurring use of maritime passage as a source of strategic leverage.
The result is a detailed account of the 2026 crisis that combines geopolitical context with legal and technical analysis, helping the reader navigate competing narratives on several aspects, including: the status of Hormuz under international law; key naval and commercial developments during the 2026 crisis; the economic and environmental effects of disruption to shipping; and the practicalities of alternative routes for so-called “bypass pipelines”. Extensive appendices also cover the 17 June US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding, global straits and canals, the strategic link to the Bab el-Mandeb, and key maritime boundary agreements in the region.
Equal parts history, legal brief and policy argument, “The Wars of the Straits” sets out the case for a durable, internationally sanctioned framework, grounded in law, science and fact, to guarantee freedom of passage through Hormuz. For energy professionals, policymakers and readers seeking to understand the global significance of the waterway, the book offers a timely perspective on one of the major crises of 2026.
Distributed by Casemate Publishers, “The Wars of the Straits” is published by the TLN, a non-partisan Washington-based think tank that brings together scholars and policy professionals from around the world.
In addition to his business career, Baroudi undertakes advocacy work promoting policies, projects and programmes that encourage dialogue and opportunity. In 2023, his efforts to promote peaceful development in the Eastern Mediterranean earned him the TLN’s Transatlantic Leadership Award.