Build a Panama-Like Canal through Oman to Avoid Iran’s Missile Threats that are Obstructing Shipping
The Panama Canal – If it could be done in Central America, it could be done in Oman.
When necessary navigation and trade was impeded or blocked in the past, the solution was to build a canal. The all-important gateway connecting New York City to Chicago was the 363 mile Erie Canal connecting Albany with Lake Erie. The canal was opened in 1825 and had to pass through numerous geographical obstructions. Much of it was hand dug and the financing was done by the state of New York rather than the federal government. The Panama Canal which was 51 miles long opened in 1914 and had to deal with mountainous terrain requiring many challenges to civil engineers (access to enough water being one of them). But it too promoted trade by becoming the essential water-based trade route crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans.
The waterway is very efficient with about 15,000 ships passing through the Panama Canal in 2008. The writer is not a civil engineer or an expert in the Middle East politics but it would seem that both Oman and the UAE are countries friendly to the West which would benefit financially from allowing such a canal to be built (as Panama has benefited). A topological map of Oman and the UAE reveals that they are relatively flat providing few obstructions to a canal if it avoids the higher areas of the coastal mountains which might make the canal longer than otherwise necessary. But the basic fact is that Iran has almost complete power and control over the ships that pass through the Persian Gulf in the choke point between it and the coast of Oman.
Our thanks to writer ‘pouncecafe’ who contributed to this report. If you wish to contribute stories to NewsroomPanama.com please send them to PanamaNewsroom@gmail.com
