UPSC Prelims Practice Questions — Bogged down
Q1. With reference to the Strait of Hormuz, consider the following statements:
1. It separates Iran on the north from Oman's Musandam exclave on the Arabian Peninsula.
2. At its narrowest point it is about 39 km (21 nautical miles) wide.
3. Its inbound and outbound tanker shipping lanes lie mostly within Iranian territorial waters.
4. It is the primary route for petroleum exported from Yemen and Egypt.
Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?
- It separates Iran on the north from Oman's Musandam exclave on the Arabian Peninsula.
- At its narrowest point it is about 39 km (21 nautical miles) wide.
- Its inbound and outbound tanker shipping lanes lie mostly within Iranian territorial waters.
- It is the primary route for petroleum exported from Yemen and Egypt.
- A. 1 and 2
- B. 3 only
- C. 3 and 4
- D. 2, 3 and 4
Q2. Consider the following statements about the Strait of Hormuz:
1. It is the only sea channel linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
2. Transit through it is governed by international maritime law under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
3. Its overall width ranges between about 55 km and 95 km.
4. It forms the shortest sea route between India and China.
Which of the above is/are correctly identified?
- It is the only sea channel linking the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
- Transit through it is governed by international maritime law under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
- Its overall width ranges between about 55 km and 95 km.
- It forms the shortest sea route between India and China.
- A. 1 and 2 only
- B. 1, 2 and 3
- C. 2, 3 and 4
- D. 1 and 4 only
Q3. The early-September 2026 strikes on three Iranian oil carriers, including one off the coast of Kharg Island, were announced as having been carried out by which one of the following United States unified combatant commands?
- A. United States European Command, responsible for operations across Europe and adjoining waters
- B. United States Indo-Pacific Command, responsible for operations across the Indian and Pacific Oceans
- C. United States Central Command, responsible for operations across West Asia and the Gulf
- D. United States Africa Command, responsible for operations across the African continent and its littorals
Q4. Which one of the following correctly describes the U.S. naval blockade of Iran during the 2026 war?
- A. Imposed on 28 February 2026, the day the air war began, and extended to all Persian Gulf ports
- B. Imposed on Iranian ports from 13 April 2026, lifted for about a month in mid-June, and reimposed in July
- C. Imposed on Iranian ports from 13 April 2026 and kept continuously in force without interruption thereafter
- D. Imposed for the first time in July 2026, only after the collapse of the June Islamabad talks
Q5. Which one of the following correctly describes the mediation and follow-up machinery of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding of June 2026?
- A. Pakistan was the sole mediator, and every round of implementation talks was held exclusively in Islamabad
- B. Qatar mediated alone, and all subsequent technical-level rounds were held permanently in Tehran
- C. Oman and Switzerland jointly mediated, and the entire implementation process was based in Geneva
- D. Pakistan and Qatar acted as mediators, with indirect implementation talks hosted in Doha
Q6. In the context of the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, the '60-day deadline' it prescribed refers to the period within which which one of the following was to be achieved?
- A. Suspension of the American naval blockade of Iranian ports and full restoration of port traffic
- B. Conclusion of an agreement that would bring the war to a permanent end
- C. Restoration of inspector access to every declared Iranian nuclear facility under safeguards
- D. Evacuation of the commercial vessels and seafarers stranded inside the Persian Gulf
Q7. During the 2026 crisis, the mechanism for coordinating the safe transit of stranded merchant vessels through the Strait of Hormuz was operated by which one of the following United Nations bodies?
- A. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, which reports on seaborne trade and shipping
- B. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which coordinates emergency humanitarian response
- C. The International Labour Organization, which sets standards on seafarers' conditions of work
- D. The International Maritime Organization, the UN specialised agency for shipping safety and security
Q8. The body now known as the International Maritime Organization was established in 1948 under which original name, and acquired the status of a specialised agency of the United Nations in which year?
- A. International Maritime Consultative Committee; 1948
- B. International Maritime Safety Organization; 1958
- C. Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization; 1959
- D. Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization; 1982
Q9. As stated by the Government of India during the 2026 energy-security review, Indian public sector enterprises currently import crude oil from how many countries?
Q10. In the Indian context, the term 'strategic petroleum reserve' denotes which one of the following?
- A. The statutory minimum operating stock of crude that public sector refiners must hold in their own refinery tankages
- B. The share of domestic crude production that the government reserves for allocation to public sector refineries
- C. Government-owned emergency crude oil stocks held in purpose-built underground storage to cushion supply disruptions
- D. Proven but undeveloped domestic hydrocarbon deposits earmarked by the government for exploration at a future date
Q11. Consider the following statements about global maritime chokepoints:
1. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
2. The Strait of Malacca lies between the Indonesian island of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula.
3. The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is the busiest chokepoint in the global oil trade, ahead of both the Strait of Malacca and the Strait of Hormuz.
4. About a fifth of the world's oil and gas trade passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the 2026 disruption.
Which of the statements given above is/are NOT correct?
- The Bab el-Mandeb Strait links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
- The Strait of Malacca lies between the Indonesian island of Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula.
- The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is the busiest chokepoint in the global oil trade, ahead of both the Strait of Malacca and the Strait of Hormuz.
- About a fifth of the world's oil and gas trade passed through the Strait of Hormuz before the 2026 disruption.
- A. 3 only
- B. 1 and 3
- C. 3 and 4
- D. 2 and 4
Q12. The verification activities whose suspension was described to the UN Security Council in 2026 as a 'loss of continuity of knowledge' over Iran's declared nuclear facilities are conducted by which body, and under which instrument?
- A. The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, under its International Monitoring System
- B. The International Atomic Energy Agency, under Iran's Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol
- C. The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, under Iran's Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement
- D. The International Atomic Energy Agency, under the verification regime of the Chemical Weapons Convention