“It’s clear that the Strait of Hormuz and the situation there will become increasingly complex,” said Zaidon Al-Qinani, founding director of the Arab Perspectives Institute. “I believe Iran intends to strengthen its sovereignty around the strait—that is, to gain more sovereignty than it did before the war. The US, on the other hand, wants to both contain this expansion and easily extend its influence further into the Strait of Hormuz.” He added that both the US and Iran have ignored the economic and trade situation around the Strait of Hormuz, focusing instead on their respective military influence.
“The US intends to ensure that any challenge to its presence in the Strait of Hormuz will ultimately escalate into a direct security threat to Iran. This is a clear military strategy: to ensure that conflict or disputes are not confined to the narrow area of the Strait of Hormuz, but rather place the Iranian state itself at direct security risk.”
