Iran tightens grip on Strait of Hormuz with new transit regime

Source: ABC.au

Iran is tightening its grip on the Strait of Hormuz by asserting unprecedented control over one of the world's most strategically important shipping lanes through a new transit regime.

Just days after launching the so-called Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA), Iran published a map on X declaring a vast "controlled maritime zone" across the waterway and warning ships that they would need Iranian authorisation to pass through it.

The zone stretches from Kuh-e Mubarak in Iran to south of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates, at the eastern entrance of the strait, and from the tip of Qeshm Island to Umm al-Quwain at the western entrance.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it is already coordinating and protecting vessel movements through the passage, claiming 26 ships transited under its oversight on Thursday alone.

Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-05-22/iran-tightens-grip-on-strait-of-hormuz-with-new-transit-regime/106705792