Iran30 September, 20263 min read
Baghrshkian Says Iran’s Navy Safeguards Strait of Hormuz Security Through Regional Cooperation
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Strait of Hormuz is a strategically vital security chokepoint for global stability. Iranian naval power is presented as safeguarding shipping lanes and regional security.
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Hormuz, maritime power
Iranian Navy commanders framed the Strait of Hormuz as a strategic geography and an energy and trade corridor, saying it represents Iran’s power through the management of Imam Ali al-Huseini al-Khamenei and the directives of Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba al-Husseini. The Iranian Navy commander said, "The Navy of the Great Islamic Republic of Iran is not a force to threaten peoples or destabilize security; rather, it is a responsible strength to safeguard stability and maritime security and to prevent adventurism in the region."
Massoud Baghrshkian, in a letter on the occasion of World Maritime Day, described the sea for Greater Iran as "a divine blessing and a part of the history, identity, and life of this land" and said the Strait of Hormuz holds a special role in regional and global security and economy. The Iranian president said sustainable security in the Persian Gulf and its waterways depends on regional cooperation and bearing responsibility, and he linked that to investments in navigational safety, offshore energy capabilities, and marine ecosystem protection.
World Maritime Day messages
Rear Admiral Shahram Irani told an audience marking World Maritime Day that Iran's naval power is a factor in safeguarding national interests, ensuring regional security, and protecting security of communications and shipping lines. Irani said, "The sea serves as a vital conduit for connecting nations and facilitating the flow of global trade," and he described seafarers and sailors as key players in sustaining the sector.
The Iranian president’s message on World Maritime Day also tied security and development to the security of sea, ports, and routes, and it said, "The secure Gulf and its waterways depend on the cooperation and accountability of regional countries." The same message portrayed Iran’s approach to the Strait of Hormuz as accountability and safeguarding security, stability, and the interests of regional countries, and it described a "powerful presence in blue waters last year" as a testament to mariners who did not allow the pulse of the country’s vital arteries to falter for even a moment.
Red Sea stakes
The Council on Foreign Relations linked Iran’s struggle for control over the Strait of Hormuz to mounting concerns about the security of another chokepoint, the Red Sea, as the Iran-backed Houthis sought to restrict oil and gas flows. CFR energy and climate expert Clara Gillispie warned that the loss of a guarantee of safe passage through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait would represent a further contraction of viable oil and liquefied natural gas trade routes, saying, "This would place further strain on already fragile global energy markets."
The CFR account said the Houthis declared a complete naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in September 2026, seized control of the strategic port city of Mokha and several islands near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and banned all Israeli and Israeli-linked ships from transiting the Red Sea. The CFR analysis added that the Red Sea is a 1,400-mile-long inlet and that each year approximately 12 to 15 percent of global maritime trade worth more than $1 trillion transits the waterway, while it also described the Red Sea as a digital chokepoint with an estimated 90 percent of undersea fiber optic cables linking Europe and Asia passing through it.