Mohammad Reza Naqdi, adviser to the IRGC commander, says Iran will soon block several routes in the Strait of Hormuz that Tehran considers illegal — including passages near the Omani side allegedly used by small boats to move oil toward tankers. According to Naqdi, some of these channels were originally opened by blasting through rocky areas, and Iran now intends to destroy or obstruct those passages again.
From a naval perspective, there is an important distinction here: this does not necessarily mean Iran is about to physically seal the entire Strait of Hormuz. The statement appears to concern secondary routes rather than the principal deep-water shipping lanes used by large commercial tankers.
But the message is still significant.
Tehran is signaling that controlling Hormuz may no longer mean only missiles, drones, patrol boats or mines. It is now openly discussing physically altering the geography of navigation routes to prevent vessels from bypassing its restrictions.
And with tanker attacks in and around Hormuz reaching their highest weekly level since the current war began, every additional restriction makes navigation, insurance and Gulf energy exports considerably more complicated.
Hormuz is increasingly becoming not merely a chokepoint on the map — but an actively contested maritime battlespace.