For most of the past several weeks, investors have been watching a narrow strip of water — roughly 20 miles wide at its tightest point — with the intensity usually reserved for Federal Reserve press conferences. The Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint between Iran and Oman through which nearly a fifth of global oil supply flows daily, has been at the center of one of the most volatile oil market episodes in recent memory. Brent crude surged past $100 a barrel as U.S.-Iran hostilities escalated, then cratered more than 9% in a single session when a ceasefire announcement sparked hopes the strait would reopen — only for tensions to flare again over the weekend, sending prices lurching back toward $90. As of this morning, the situation remains unresolved, with the ceasefire fragile, the U.S. naval blockade still in place, and another Iranian vessel seized overnight.