The Strait of Hormuz is no longer merely a narrow strip of water dividing Iran and Oman. In the eyes of Tehran, the map has been fundamentally redrawn. The world’s most vital chokepoint has now been transformed from a limited maritime passage into a “vast operational area”, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy said on Monday.
“In the past, the Strait of Hormuz was defined as a limited area around islands such as Hormuz and Hengam, but today this view has changed,” Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political director of the IRGC Navy, told Iran’s Fars news agency.
The zone now stretches from the Iranian port city of Jask in the east to Siri Island in the west, according to Akbarzadeh. Iranian media reports said the effective width of the strait has expanded from around 32-48 km to as much as 322-483 km. That’s 10 times larger.
Background
The US and Israel bombed Iran on February 28. Tehran retaliated by striking US bases and allies in the Gulf. The war quickly turned the Strait of Hormuz into one of the most sensitive flashpoints in the world.
Despite a fragile ceasefire announced in April, the region remains on a knife-edge due to a dual-pronged maritime crisis. The US has enforced a strict naval blockade to isolate Iranian shipping, while Tehran has countered by threatening to use its strategic position to shut down all commercial transit through the Strait.
Now Iran appears to be taking that one step further.
Instead of talking only about closing the strait, Tehran is remapping the entire surrounding area as a military zone under expanded IRGC oversight.
Why Hormuz is so important
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important energy routes. Around one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas passes through it every day. Countries including India, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, the UAE and Qatar rely on the waterway to export energy to the rest of the world.
If shipping through Hormuz slows down or stops, oil prices can rise sharply within hours.
Since the beginning of the war, oil prices have surged by over 55% in the US, with Brent crude rising from roughly $72 a barrel to over $120.
The map that changed the conversation
Earlier this month, the IRGC released a map showing what it described as a new maritime zone under its control.
The map outlined two proposed “lines of control”.
The western boundary stretched from Iran’s Qeshm Island to Umm Al Quwain in the UAE. The eastern boundary ran from Mount Mobarak in Iran to Fujairah in the UAE.
Inside those lines lies one of the world’s most important shipping corridors.
The map effectively placed parts of Omani and UAE territorial waters, along with internationally recognised shipping lanes, inside an Iranian security zone.
It also showed key Iranian ports such as Bandar Abbas and Chabahar. The area between those lines includes international shipping lanes as well as waters near Oman and the UAE.
Iranian media later described the new zone as forming a “complete crescent”.
The naval official offered assurances regarding the protection of Iranian sovereignty, as per Mehr News Agency. “As it has been said before, we will give blood, but we will not give up an inch of soil. The armed forces will defend the country’s territorial integrity and waters with all their might,” Akbarzadeh said.
‘Strait of Trump’?
Earlier, during a Miami speech, the US President jokingly rechristened the world’s tensest chokepoint as the “Strait of Trump,” dryly telling the crowd that Iran needs to “open up the Strait of Trump — I mean, Hormuz.”
He then taunted the “fake news” by insisting, “there’s no accidents with me.” It is a sequel to his executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
