Iran’s Strategic Stance on the Strait of Hormuz

Ebrahim Azizi, a former commander in Iran’s Islamic Major Guards Corps (IRGC) and a member of parliament, told the BBC in Tehran that Iran will never relinquish control of the Strait of Hormuz. ‘It’s our inalienable right,’ Azizi said. ‘Iran will decide the right of passage, including permissions for vessels to pass through the Strait.’

Azizi revealed that a bill is being introduced in parliament based on Article 110 of the Iranian constitution, which covers the environment, maritime safety, and national security. The armed forces will implement the law, he said, emphasizing the significance of the Strait in Iran’s strategic calculus.

As global concerns mount over the potential closure of this vital waterway, it is clear that this is not a short-term issue. The conflict has given Tehran what it views as a new weapon. Azizi described the Strait of Hormuz as ‘one of our assets to face the enemy,’ highlighting its role in Iran’s ongoing military and political strategies.

Azizi is a key figure in a parliament dominated by hardliners, reflecting the thinking of senior decision-makers who have emerged from the war. The conflict has become increasingly militarized, with the IRGC playing a central role, especially after a series of high-level assassinations in Israeli strikes.

Tehran now sees its ability to control the passage of vital maritime traffic, including oil and gas tankers, not just as a bargaining chip in current negotiations but as a long-term use. ‘The first priority for Iran after the war is to restore deterrence, and the Strait of Hormuz is among Iran’s principal strategic uses,’ said Mohammad Eslami, a research fellow at the University of Tehran.

Tehran is open to discussing how other nations can benefit from Iran’s new framework for the strait, but control remains the bottom line. However, this stance has been met with resistance from some of Iran’s neighbors, who are furious about its attacks during the five weeks of war, which is now on pause in a fragile temporary ceasefire.

Dr. Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, described Iran’s actions as ‘an act of hostile piracy’ in a recent interview. He warned that if Iran refused to relinquish control of these international waters, it would set a ‘dangerous precedent’ for other strategic waterways in the world.

Azizi retorted with a reference to the US military bases across the Middle East, which were repeatedly targeted by Iran’s drones and missiles. ‘They are the pirates who sold our region to the Americans,’ he said. ‘The US is the biggest pirate in the world.’

‘We have always said we need to work together to secure our region,’ Azizi emphasized. However, this vision has been shattered for most Gulf states, except for Oman, one of Iran’s closest allies in the region, which controls the southern coast of the strait. Oman had been involved in discussions with Tehran earlier this month to ensure the smooth and safe transit of vessels.

There have also been signs of disagreements within Iran’s military and political elite. This was evident in recent criticism of Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi when he posted a statement on social media on Friday saying the Strait of Hormuz was ‘completely open.’

US President Donald Trump had immediately responded with a capitalized ‘THANK YOU’ in a post on social media. Within minutes, news outlets linked to the IRGC rebuked Araghchi. The state-run Mehr news agency said the foreign minister’s post had ‘provided the best opportunity for Trump to go beyond reality, declare himself the winner of the war and celebrate victory.’

Another news agency, Tasnim, described the statement as a ‘bad and incomplete tweet that created misleading ambiguity about the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.’ Araghchi stressed the waterway was only open to ships authorized by the IRGC navy and through designated routes that required the payment of tolls.

Azizi dismissed any impressions of rifts within the regime. ‘When it comes to national security, there are no moderate or hardline approaches,’ he said. The fate of this strait will be decided at the most senior echelons of the state. It’s one of the core issues in the high-level talks reportedly set to resume in Islamabad on Tuesday after a first round of historic face-to-face negotiations took place in the Pakistani capital last weekend.

Trump has said he was sending a delegation, a White House official told the BBC, which will be headed again by US Vice-President JD Vance. Iranian officials are so far silent on whether their own team, led by parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, will return to Pakistan. Local media are reporting that Iran won’t attend as long as a US blockade of Iranian ports remains in force.

Trump has repeatedly ordered Iran to open this maritime corridor, including in an expletive-laden social media post on 5 April in which he warned Iran would be ‘living in hell’ if it failed to comply with his command. He’s now accused Tehran of trying to ‘blackmail’ the US.

‘I don’t expect much from a man who twists the truth,’ Azizi scoffs. ‘We are just defending our rights in the face of American blackmail.’

Like many high-level Iranians, he often hits back at Trump with mocking social media posts on X. Their trolling underlines how they enjoy access to the international internet denied to the vast majority of Iranians in the near-total digital blackout in force for many weeks.

Azizi, whose parliamentary file also includes national security, wouldn’t say when it would be lifted, only emphasizing ‘when it is safe and secure we will lift the ban so that the enemy will not take advantage.’

I also asked him about recent waves of arrests and what human rights groups, including Amnesty International, say are dozens of death sentences handed down to protesters detained during January’s nationwide protests, which were crushed with lethal forces and killed many thousands. Several executions, including of young people, have recently been carried out.

Azizi repeated the government’s claim that the US and Israeli spy agencies (the CIA and Mossad, respectively) had been involved in the unrest. He dismissed rising concern among some Iranians that internal security will tighten further. ‘In war, even in a ceasefire, there are rules,’ he declared.