U.S. says 90-minute airstrikes target Greater Tunb Island, strategic point in Strait of Hormuz
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) conducted a 90-minute wave of airstrikes on Greater Tunb Island, a landform in the Strait of Hormuz, beginning around 6 a.m. local time.
The strikes targeted coastal defence systems and cruise missile storage and launch sites, with the stated objective of degrading the capacity to threaten commercial shipping transiting the strait.
The operation followed an attack on a container ship in the Strait of Hormuz and formed part of a wider series of strikes conducted during a fragile 60-day truce intended to enable negotiations over the regional nuclear programme and security issues.
A parallel US naval posture in the strait has involved restricting the passage of Iranian-linked vessels while stating that other commercial shipping would receive protection, reportedly on a fee basis.
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated that regional energy exports could be halted entirely if the restrictions on shipping persist; Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations described the strikes as an act of aggression.
Strait of Hormuz — Geography and Strategic Significance
The Strait of Hormuz is a narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, lying between Iran (north) and Oman's Musandam exclave (south). It is one of the world's most critical maritime chokepoints for energy trade.
Key Details
- At its narrowest point the strait is about 33 km (21 miles) wide; navigable shipping lanes are only about 3.2 km wide in each direction, separated by a similarly wide buffer zone, under a Traffic Separation Scheme.
- Roughly a fifth to a quarter of global seaborne oil trade and around a fifth of global LNG trade transits the strait; in 2025, nearly 15 million barrels/day of crude oil (about a third of global crude oil trade) passed through it.
- Around 93% of Qatar's LNG exports and 96% of the UAE's LNG exports depend on this route; Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq, Bahrain and Iran are the principal littoral/user states for oil exports.
- No alternative maritime route exists for most Gulf oil; limited bypass capacity exists via the Saudi East-West (Petroline) pipeline and the UAE's Habshan-Fujairah pipeline.
The strikes on Greater Tunb Island, and the wider naval posture in the strait, are aimed at military assets seen as capable of threatening this chokepoint, directly implicating the security of a route through which a large share of the world's oil and LNG moves.
Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa — the Iran-UAE Territorial Dispute
Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa are small islands in the Strait of Hormuz/lower Persian Gulf that have been under a long-running sovereignty dispute between Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Key Details
- Iran seized the islands in November-December 1971, immediately after British forces withdrew from the Gulf; at the time, Greater and Lesser Tunb were claimed by the Emirate of Ras al-Khaimah and Abu Musa by the Emirate of Sharjah.
- Both emirates joined the newly formed United Arab Emirates shortly after (Sharjah in December 1971, Ras al-Khaimah in February 1972), and the UAE inherited the territorial claim against Iran.
- The islands sit close to the shipping lanes of the Strait of Hormuz, giving control over them added strategic value for monitoring and potentially interdicting traffic through the strait.
- UAE-Iran negotiations (including in 1992) have failed to resolve the dispute; the UAE has sought international adjudication (including at the International Court of Justice), which Iran has declined to accept.
Greater Tunb Island, the site of the current strikes, is itself the subject of an unresolved sovereignty dispute; military installations there sit at the intersection of this bilateral territorial question and the broader security of the Strait of Hormuz.
India's Energy Security Exposure and Gulf Evacuation Preparedness
India's crude oil and LNG imports have historically relied heavily on the Strait of Hormuz, and a large Indian diaspora resides in Gulf states along its shores, making disruptions in the strait a direct national concern.
Key Details
- India consumes roughly 5.5 million barrels of crude oil per day and imports the large majority of its requirement; prior to recent diversification, about 45% of India's crude oil imports, roughly half of its LNG imports, and about 90% of its LPG imports transited the Strait of Hormuz.
- Following diversification efforts (increased sourcing from Russia, the Americas and Africa), Indian authorities have stated that around 70% of crude imports now arrive via routes outside the strait, reducing but not eliminating exposure.
- India maintains a track record of large-scale evacuation operations for its diaspora during Gulf/West Asia crises, exemplified by Operation Kaveri (2023), which used Indian Navy and Air Force assets alongside partner-country cooperation to evacuate nationals from a conflict zone.
- India's stated posture on West Asia developments has been one of a balanced, non-aligned approach, calling for restraint and de-escalation while engaging all sides, consistent with its wider strategic autonomy doctrine.
Any prolonged disruption or blockade in the Strait of Hormuz directly raises India's energy import costs and shipping risk, and any escalation in the Gulf increases the likelihood of evacuation-style contingency operations for the Indian diaspora resident in the region.
UNCLOS Transit Passage Regime (Part III, Articles 37-44)
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982, establishes a special "transit passage" regime for straits used for international navigation, distinct from the ordinary "innocent passage" applicable in territorial seas.
Key Details
- Articles 37-44 (Part III) apply to straits connecting one area of high seas/Exclusive Economic Zone to another; they entitle all ships and aircraft, including warships, to continuous and expeditious transit passage that "shall not be impeded" and cannot be suspended by the bordering states.
- This is broader than innocent passage under Part II, which does not extend the same guarantees to warships or overflight and can, in principle, be suspended by the coastal state for security reasons.
- Iran has signed but not ratified UNCLOS; a 1993 Iranian domestic law ("Law of Marine Areas of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea") requires prior authorisation for the passage of foreign warships, submarines and vessels carrying hazardous materials through its territorial sea, and Iran maintains that transit passage is a treaty-created (not customary) right that does not bind non-ratifying states.
- India ratified UNCLOS in 1995 and has generally supported freedom of navigation and the transit passage regime in its own maritime doctrine.
The legal dispute over whether warships and commercial shipping have an unimpeded right to transit the Strait of Hormuz, versus Iran's claimed right to require prior authorisation, is the underlying international law question shaping the current confrontation over shipping access.
- Duration of the airstrike wave on Greater Tunb Island: 90 minutes, beginning around 6 a.m. local time
- Location struck: Greater Tunb Island, Strait of Hormuz (disputed between Iran and the UAE since 1971)
- Strait of Hormuz narrowest width: about 33 km; shipping lanes about 3.2 km wide each way
- Share of global seaborne oil trade transiting the strait: roughly one-quarter to one-third (2025: ~15 million barrels/day of crude)
- Share of global LNG trade transiting the strait: roughly one-fifth (Qatar ~93% and UAE ~96% of their LNG exports)
- India's pre-diversification exposure: ~45% of crude oil imports, ~50% of LNG imports, ~90% of LPG imports via the strait; reported at ~70% of crude now routed outside it
- Truce context: a 60-day truce over the regional nuclear programme and security issues, under continued strain from renewed strikes
- UNCLOS transit passage: Articles 37-44, Part III; India ratified UNCLOS in 1995; Iran has signed but not ratified UNCLOS