Something like one-fifth of the world’s oil is shipped through the Strait of Hormuz. When that flow is threatened, prices spike. Americans pay at the gas pump, at the grocery store, and everywhere along the way.

The passage connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the broader Indian Ocean is only 21 miles wide. Frank Miele writes in Commentary that this is not a metaphor. Rather, it is a reminder that in a globalized economy, geography can exert more immediate influence over American life than any vote cast in Congress.

Oil is not priced locally, experts tell us. It is priced globally.

The United States may be energy-rich, but it is not price-immune. A disruption in Hormuz does not have to send a single barrel directly to American shores to hit American wallets. It only has to tighten global supply enough to push prices higher, and those higher prices ripple instantly through every sector of the economy.

In President Trump’s speech last week, he argued that U.S. strikes have largely neutralized Iran’s military capabilities. Perhaps they have, notes Mr. Miele, but as long as the straits remain contested and global energy markets remain on edge,” the measure of success will not be what has been destroyed, but what can still be disrupted.

Decisions about war and peace must account not only for immediate risks, but for the long-term consequences of doing nothing. At the same time, those decisions must recognize the limits of what military force alone can achieve in a world where disruption is often easier than control.