Iran will never surrender control of Strait of Hormuz, lawmaker says

Iran will never relinquish control of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a senior Iranian lawmaker has said, describing the vital waterway as an inseparable part of the Islamic Republic’s national sovereignty that will remain under full Iranian authority.

Ebrahim Azizi, a former commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, made the remarks in an interview with a BBC correspondent in Tehran on Sunday, News.Az reports, citing Iran’s English-language Press TV.

“Never,” Azizi replied when asked if Tehran would ever cede control of the strait. “It’s our inalienable right. Iran will decide the right of passage, including permissions for vessels to pass through the strait.”

He said this principle is being formalised through legislation. “We are introducing a bill in parliament, based on Article 110 of the constitution, which covers the environment, maritime safety and national security, and the armed forces will implement the law,” the senior MP said.

The lawmaker stressed that the US-Israeli war with Iran has only reinforced the strait’s critical importance as one of the country’s most powerful assets in confronting its adversaries.

Tehran now regards its ability to regulate maritime traffic through the waterway as essential for restoring deterrence and maintaining long-term strategic leverage.

“The first priority for Iran after the war is to restore deterrence, and the Strait of Hormuz is among Iran’s principal strategic levers,” 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 is the bottom line.”

Meanwhile, Azizi sharply dismissed criticism from regional states, particularly the United Arab Emirates.

Responding to UAE diplomatic adviser Anwar Gargash’s description of Iran’s actions as “an act of hostile piracy”, Azizi said those Persian Gulf states “are the pirates who sold our region to the Americans”.

He added that Washington is “the biggest pirate in the world” because of its extensive military bases across West Asia, many of which were targeted by Iranian drones and missiles during the 40-day war.

“We have always said we need to work together to secure our region,” Azizi said.

Azizi’s remarks came hours before the United States carried out what Press TV described as a “flagrant act of aggression” against an Iranian merchant vessel in the waters of the Sea of Oman, deploying marines on to the ship’s deck and disabling its navigation systems.

US troops launched what Press TV described as an unprovoked attack on the Iranian container ship Toska, which it said was “peacefully” sailing from China to Iran through the Gulf of Oman.

In response, Iranian forces targeted several US military vessels in the area with drone strikes.

News.Az