India, March 16 -- As the Strait of Hormuz remains closed with Iran squeezing oil trade and the global economy in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes, Saudi Arabia is reportedly offering on an alterative plan. But that comes with some caveats, underlining further how important the strait remains.

The Saudi regime, firmly on the US side in the war on its age-old nemesis Iran, is giving long-term oil customers the option of receiving their allocations for the month of April via a Red Sea port called Yanbu, news agency Bloomberg reported on Monday, March 16.

But buyers who choose Yanbu will only get a portion of their monthly supply. Because, there are constraints on how much crude the pipeline to this port can carry, as per traders who hav...