The war in Iran and the accompanying shipping bottleneck are triggering a historic crisis in the aluminum market, with potentially devastating knock-on effects across sectors that depend on the base metal. Aluminum is the third most used metal in the world, behind only iron and steel. Aluminum is prized for its high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, and excellent conductivity — properties that make it essential for everything from beverage cans and cooking foil to aerospace components and power grids.