Iran’s Revolutionary Guard released a new Hormuz map as tensions rise over U.S. efforts to reopen a crucial route for global oil and gas trade.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps has released a new map asserting an expanded zone of maritime control around the Strait of Hormuz, turning the narrow energy corridor into the latest flashpoint in Tehran’s standoff with Washington.
The map, issued Monday, marks two red lines extending from Iranian territory toward the United Arab Emirates coastline: one from Qeshm Island toward Umm al Quwain, and another from Mount Mobarak toward Fujairah. The move came after U.S. President Donald Trump began a new naval effort, called “Project Freedom,” to escort stranded tankers through a passage that has been largely closed since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began on February 28.
The stakes are far larger than the map itself. The Strait of Hormuz carries about a quarter of global seaborne oil trade, along with major flows of liquefied natural gas and fertilisers. Disruption there can quickly move from the Gulf to energy prices, shipping costs and wider supply chains.
Analysts cited by Al Jazeera say that is why Iran is unlikely to surrender pressure over the waterway easily, even as the tactic carries severe risks for Tehran. Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, a Middle East economics professor at Marburg University’s Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies, described control over Hormuz as a “strategic equaliser” for Iran.
Iran cannot match U.S. naval and air power directly, Farzanegan said, but the geography of Hormuz gives Tehran another way to raise the cost of confrontation. “It allows Iran to signal that pressure on Iran will not remain confined to Iran,” he told Al Jazeera.
The pressure campaign has already reshaped traffic through the strait. Tanker movement, which Al Jazeera reported averaged 129 vessels in February, has fallen to near paralysis. The disruption has affected energy markets and maritime transport, giving Iran leverage as it faces U.S. demands that include Washington’s insistence that Tehran effectively end its nuclear programme.
Iran’s options in the strait do not require a conventional naval victory. The country has shown during the conflict that it has drones, fast attack craft, anti-ship cruise missiles, rocket launchers and other coastal capabilities that could make commercial transit dangerous enough for insurers, shippers and energy traders to pull back.
But the leverage cuts both ways. Since April 13, the United States has imposed a naval blockade on Iranian ports and shipping, restricting Iran’s ability to export oil, bring in essential goods and maintain foreign-exchange inflows. Inside Iran, prices have surged, millions of jobs have been lost or paused, and authorities have imposed a near-total internet shutdown, according to the same reporting.
That makes Hormuz both a bargaining tool and a liability. As Farzanegan put it, the strait gives Iran power because using it fully would hurt many countries at once — including Iran itself.
The confrontation appeared to spread further on Monday when the UAE reported drone and missile attacks, including one that caused a fire at a major energy hub in Fujairah. It was the first such incident in a Gulf state since a U.S.-Iran ceasefire on April 8, according to Al Jazeera. The UAE blamed Iran. Tehran has not formally confirmed responsibility, though it appeared on Tuesday to acknowledge involvement while blaming the United States and its regional actions.
Fujairah is a major export point for crude oil and refined fuels, with shipments of more than 1.7 million barrels a day, about 1.7 percent of daily world demand. The attack followed a U.S. military statement that two American merchant ships had passed through the strait with Navy guided-missile destroyer support. Iran denied that any such crossings had taken place, though Maersk confirmed that the U.S.-flagged Alliance Fairfax had exited the Gulf under U.S. military escort.
The two sides also gave conflicting accounts of a separate maritime clash. The U.S. military said its forces destroyed six small Iranian boats in the region. Iran denied that and said U.S. attacks on Iranian vessels had killed five civilians.
Muhanad Seloom, an assistant professor of international politics and security at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera the Fujairah attack showed Iran could pressure global markets by threatening Gulf infrastructure rather than directly striking U.S. merchant ships in Hormuz.
For Gulf Cooperation Council states, the question now is how long restraint can hold if the conflict continues to hit energy infrastructure and shipping. For Washington and Tehran, the immediate test is whether the U.S. escort campaign can reopen traffic without triggering a wider regional escalation.
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