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Iran expands its definition of the Strait of Hormuz to a wider zone, tightening control over key oil routes, complicating the Iran war and Trump Xi Beijing summit dynamics
Data from MarineTraffic (marinetraffic.com) shows that a large number of vessels continue to remain stranded across the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. (Photo: www.marinetraffic.com)
Iran has significantly expanded its definition of the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint through which roughly a fifth of the world’s traded oil moves, signalling an intent to extend its control over a far larger corridor of water than the international community has historically recognised. The announcement came from Mohammad Akbarzadeh, an official with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval forces, as US President Donald Trump prepared to fly to Beijing for a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“In the past, the Strait of Hormuz was defined as a limited area around islands such as Hormuz and Hengam, but today this has changed,” Akbarzadeh said, according to Iranian state broadcaster Press TV. Iran now considers the strait to stretch hundreds of miles, from the coast of Jask in southeastern Iran to the Greater Tunb island. “The Strait of Hormuz has grown larger and has turned into a vast operational area,” he said. Tehran, he added, would “not allow any kind of encroachment upon its waters and interests.”
The geography of that claim matters. Jask sits outside the Persian Gulf entirely, on the Gulf of Oman. Pulling it within the boundaries of the Strait of Hormuz, as Iran now defines the term, extends Tehran’s declared operational zone well beyond the narrow chokepoint, at its tightest point just 21 miles wide, that the world’s oil tankers have historically transited.
A Waterway Already Shut by War
The strait was effectively closed to global shipping following Iranian attacks at the start of the conflict with the United States and Israel. That closure sent energy prices spiking across Asian and European markets and forced tankers onto longer, costlier routes around the Arabian Peninsula.
For China, the disruption has been direct. Beijing imports roughly 12% of its crude from Iran and depends on Persian Gulf suppliers for a substantial portion of the rest. Those supply pressures have complicated Xi Jinping’s domestic economic position and, according to analysis by David Finkelstein in the Financial Times, may eventually force Beijing to play a larger diplomatic role in resolving the conflict, despite its strong preference to stay out of Middle Eastern entanglements.
The Beijing Connection
Iran’s redefinition of the strait lands as Trump boards a flight to Beijing for his first China visit since 2017. The Iran war is already listed among the thorniest items on the summit agenda. Chinese propaganda directed at third countries has used the conflict to frame Washington as a force for global instability, while presenting Beijing as a more predictable partner. Iranian crude disruptions, meanwhile, have given China’s government a domestic economic headache it would rather not be managing while simultaneously negotiating with Trump.
Tehran’s announcement now adds a further variable. Any diplomatic framework for de-escalating the conflict will need to address Iranian control over the strait, and Iran has just ensured that any such negotiation begins from a substantially expanded baseline.
Whether the expanded definition is a declaratory posture designed to give the IRGC political cover for future action, or a genuine statement of operational intent, remains to be seen. But the message to Washington, and to Beijing, is clear. Iran is not waiting to see how the summit goes before staking out its position.
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