Africa's Quiet Diplomacy Amid the Hormuz Crisis

A Continent Squeezed by the Hormuz Closure

For roughly six months since US-Israeli airstrikes against Iran ignited the current war in late February 2026, the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway through which a major portion of the world's oil exports pass — has been effectively closed to normal commercial traffic. The consequences for Africa have been severe and cumulative: fuel shortages have led to long queues at empty petrol stations across the continent, and disrupted fertilizer supplies from Gulf producers are now threatening crop failures that could deepen food insecurity in countries already struggling with poverty and conflict.

Despite this, African governments have conspicuously avoided directly blaming any party — and in particular, they have refrained from publicly criticizing US President Donald Trump, whose administration's strikes against Iran triggered the crisis.

The Geometry of African Silence

Analysts say the reticence of African governments is not accidental. The International Crisis Group's Africa analyst Liesl Louw-Vaudran notes that African governments' long-term planning now assumes the Hormuz crisis will continue for the foreseeable future, and that a US-Iran memorandum signed in June has brought little genuine optimism about a near-term resolution.

“Every rational person knows Trump triggered these crises, but leaders fear the consequences of saying so,” said Dismas Mokua, a political risk analyst at Tricarta in Kenya.

The African Union itself has been especially cautious, still scarred by a 2022 episode in which the AU's then-chair issued criticism of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, only to be overruled by other African leaders who objected to the statement. With 55 member states holding sharply divergent geopolitical alignments, building consensus within the AU on any conflict involving major powers is an immense challenge.

Quiet Pressure Through UN Channels

Some African states have nonetheless tried to signal their position through multilateral institutions. The Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, and Liberia — the African members currently sitting on the United Nations Security Council — co-sponsored a resolution in March 2026 that condemned Iranian attacks on Gulf states. The resolution stopped well short of addressing the broader war or assigning blame for the conflict's origins.

Separately, a possible deal between Iran and Oman over an alternative shipping route through the Persian Gulf has been discussed in diplomatic circles, but no concrete agreement has materialized, and experts regard the prospects with skepticism.

Economic Pressure Mounts

For ordinary Africans, the diplomacy of silence offers little comfort. Fuel prices have surged across the continent, hitting economies already weakened by inflation and debt. Agricultural inputs — fertilizers, pesticides, fuel for tractors — tied to Gulf supply chains have become scarcer and more expensive, raising the prospect of reduced harvests across sub-Saharan Africa in 2026 and 2027. Aid organizations warn that the food security situation in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, already fragile, risks deteriorating significantly if the Hormuz blockage continues through the next growing season.