The Strait of Hormuz - the chokepoint through which a fifth of the world's oil passes - is a flashpoint again. The US struck an Iranian oil tanker near the strait with a Hellfire missile, and an Iranian military control station on Qeshm island. Iran hit back with ballistic missiles and drones at targets in Kuwait and Bahrain, including the headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.

The price is paid, as usual, by those who aren't direct participants. The international airport in Kuwait was damaged, air traffic suspended, and the Kuwaiti military called the attacks "criminal Iranian aggression." The number of injured remains unknown. Iran's Revolutionary Guard announced this was only an "initial response," with a threat of stronger retaliation.

Both sides are playing the familiar game with the facts. Iran claims the targets were hit; the US CENTCOM claims all the missiles were "intercepted or failed to reach their target." China called for respect for the ceasefire and warned that "a new war benefits no one" - a diplomatic formula that sounds wise but changes nothing on the ground. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, meanwhile, is on the phone with Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, France, Turkey, Qatar and Egypt.

And why should any of this interest someone in the Balkans? Because the Strait of Hormuz isn't distant geography - it's the valve on the world's fuel price. Every escalation there turns into a more expensive petrol pump in Skopje a few weeks later. The war may be on the other side of the world, but the bill reaches our tank.

And here's what the official statements never say out loud: in a clash between two military powers measuring themselves in missiles, the real loser is the small country in the middle - Kuwait with its damaged airport, the region with its closed skies, and the ordinary person who'll pay more for something they had no choice in preventing.