IRGC Navy officers now define the Strait of Hormuz as a “vast operational area”…
The zone has been enlarged far beyond the original narrow stretch to include UAE ports…
Qatar’s PM blasted Tehran this morning, calling the waterway a “weapon of blackmail”…
Iran claims it is collecting “tolls” from friendly nations for safe passage through the zone…
The U.S. Navy has officially rejected these tolls as “illegal maritime extortion”…
Tehran says the Strait only reopens fully if the U.S. naval blockade is lifted first…
IRGC officials released a map showing Fujairah and Khor Fakkan now under Iranian “oversight”…
Tehran is redrawing the map because they know the U.S. can’t be everywhere at once…
500 km (300 miles); IRGC expanded the “Strait” from Jask to beyond Greater Tunb.
Tehran [Iran], May 12 (ANI): Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy has declared that the Strait of Hormuz has been “significantly expanded”, with the force now defining the waterway as a massive strategic corridor reaching from the shores of Jask and Sirik to regions past Qeshm Island and Greater Tunb Island.
Mohammad Akbarzadeh, the political deputy of the IRGC Navy, informed Tasnim News Agency that the Islamic Republic has fundamentally reimagined the boundaries of this critical maritime gateway.
“[Earlier] the Strait of Hormuz was considered a limited area around islands like Hormuz and Hengam when defined, but today this perspective has changed,” Akbarzadeh stated, according to reports.
Qatar PM Sheikh Mohammed blasts Iran for using the waterway as a “weapon.”
Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Tuesday that Iran should not use the Strait of Hormuz as a means to pressure or “blackmail” Gulf countries.
Speaking at a joint press conference in Doha with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Al Thani stated: “Iran should not use the Strait of Hormuz to pressure or blackmail Gulf states.”
Fidan said that Ankara supports efforts aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, adding that the waterway should not be used as a “weapon” during the war involving Iran.
Persian Gulf Strait Authority launched by Tehran to tax all commercial transit.
By expanding the “Strait” definition to a 500-km “operational area,” the IRGC is attempting to legalize the seizure of ships far into the Gulf of Oman. This functionally annexes international waters into a domestic “toll zone.”
The “Persian Gulf Strait Authority” is a direct challenge to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Iran is betting that “taxing” friendly nations like China will force them to pressure Washington for a total ceasefire.