UAE Hormuz Bypass Pipeline 50% Complete as Iran Seizes Strait Control

The UAE's state oil company has accelerated construction of a second Hormuz bypass pipeline to 50% completion, targeting 2027, as Iran simultaneously establishes a new authority to levy tolls and control maritime transit through the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint carrying over 14 million barrels of oil per day. This convergence of energy vulnerability, Iranian maritime power grabs, and US-NATO contingency planning signals a deepening crisis in the world's most strategically critical waterway, reshaping the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East in real time. The Bible warns that in the last days, control over trade routes, resources, and economic access will become instruments of global power and conflict, foreshadowing the conditions described in Revelation 18 where the collapse of global commerce marks a defining moment of the end times.