Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 16 hours ago
Paris Defence and Security Forum 2026 Panel "Supply Chain Security around the Strait of Hormuz"
Dr Andreas Krieg
"When I first thought about this panel, it was already clear that supply chains mattered. We knew these choke points were important, for the simple reason that the world we live in today is not dominated and run by states alone. It is not a world of 195 member states. It is a world of networks, nodes, intermediaries, interlocutors, and private and public actors all working together.
I want you to think of the world as a massive network of networks, a world of hyperconnectivity, a world of flows: flows of capital, commodities, energy, data, people, and ideas. Once you conceptualise the world in that way, you understand just how important choke points, hubs, and intermediaries are in this global system of flows.
Two of the most important choke points in this world of flows are the Bab al-Mandab, between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, and the Strait of Hormuz, between Oman and Iran, both of which you have probably heard a great deal about on television over the past few weeks.
So rather than looking at a system of states, we are really looking at a system of intermediaries, guardians, and gatekeepers. What we have seen is how a country like Iran can become a strategic gatekeeper to the flows that sustain not just the Gulf and the Middle East, but Europe as well. We are very much affected by this here in Europe.
It is also a system in which size does not necessarily matter. It does not matter whether you are a great power or a superpower, or whether you have the largest military in the world, because we can see that the Americans are very much out of their depth. They are unable to provide the security that is needed. In fact, it is often small and middle powers that play an important outsourced role when they come together, build alliances, and create consensus, rather than relying on the kind of coercion and compulsion Donald Trump has been using.
This is a man-made supply chain crisis. I would argue it is one of the worst supply chain crises in history. It was entirely avoidable. It is extremely difficult to manage, and we will probably have to live with it for some time.
But it is also an opportunity for Europe. I think we will talk about this more this afternoon. As the Gulf begins to think about disentangling from America, Europe too is thinking about how it can disentangle from America. That creates opportunities for Europe and the Gulf countries to come together and work together, not necessarily in a zero-sum game against the Americans, but in a way that allows European countries, including the UK, France, potentially Germany, and others, to play a very important role in supporting these vital networks of flows and helping our partners in the Gulf."
(C) PDSF 2026
Paris Defence and Security Forum 2026 Panel "Supply Chain Security around the Strait of Hormuz"
Dr Andreas Krieg
"When I first thought about this panel, it was already clear that supply chains mattered. We knew these choke points were important, for the simple reason that the world we live in today is not dominated and run by states alone. It is not a world of 195 member states. It is a world of networks, nodes, intermediaries, interlocutors, and private and public actors all working together.
I want you to think of the world as a massive network of networks, a world of hyperconnectivity, a world of flows: flows of capital, commodities, energy, data, people, and ideas. Once you conceptualise the world in that way, you understand just how important choke points, hubs, and intermediaries are in this global system of flows.
Two of the most important choke points in this world of flows are the Bab al-Mandab, between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, and the Strait of Hormuz, between Oman and Iran, both of which you have probably heard a great deal about on television over the past few weeks.
So rather than looking at a system of states, we are really looking at a system of intermediaries, guardians, and gatekeepers. What we have seen is how a country like Iran can become a strategic gatekeeper to the flows that sustain not just the Gulf and the Middle East, but Europe as well. We are very much affected by this here in Europe.
It is also a system in which size does not necessarily matter. It does not matter whether you are a great power or a superpower, or whether you have the largest military in the world, because we can see that the Americans are very much out of their depth. They are unable to provide the security that is needed. In fact, it is often small and middle powers that play an important outsourced role when they come together, build alliances, and create consensus, rather than relying on the kind of coercion and compulsion Donald Trump has been using.
This is a man-made supply chain crisis. I would argue it is one of the worst supply chain crises in history. It was entirely avoidable. It is extremely difficult to manage, and we will probably have to live with it for some time.
But it is also an opportunity for Europe. I think we will talk about this more this afternoon. As the Gulf begins to think about disentangling from America, Europe too is thinking about how it can disentangle from America. That creates opportunities for Europe and the Gulf countries to come together and work together, not necessarily in a zero-sum game against the Americans, but in a way that allows European countries, including the UK, France, potentially Germany, and others, to play a very important role in supporting these vital networks of flows and helping our partners in the Gulf."
(C) PDSF 2026
