The Strait of Hormuz is a deep marine blue sea but it has become proverbially combustible just as an Australian frigate, HMAS Toowoomba, is scheduled to arrive in the area.

From around Australia Day, Toowoomba will be patrolling the Strait of Hormuz – the world’s energy choke-point, providing the only maritime passage from the oil-rich Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean. In the federal government’s words, the Toowoomba commitment forms a “modest, meaningful and time-limited” Australian contribution to a US-led mission aimed at protecting freedom of navigation, but is also there as a show of force against neighbouring Iran.