Control vs. Denial: The Strategic Battle for the Strait of Hormuz

By Elijah J. Magnier

President Donald Trump threatened to ‘obliterate all various power plants, starting with the biggest one first if Iran doesn’t open the Strait of Hormuz.’ Iran speaker Mohamad Bagher Galibaf responded saying ‘immediately after the power plants and infrastructure of our country are targeted, the critical infrastructure, energy infrastructure and oil facilities throughout the region will be considered legitimate targets and will be destroyed in an irreversible manner.’ The IRGC has also a say: ‘If Donald Trump hit our power plants we shall close the Strait of Hormuz completely.’

These are not rhetorical exchanges. They are declarations of intent. In Iran, external threats consolidate rather than fracture the domestic front. The political and military leadership is signalling strategic cohesion, not hesitation, showing no indication of stepping back and a clear readiness to absorb and impose costs in a sustained confrontation with Washington. The logic is escalation through endurance: if pressure is applied, it will be met with counter-pressure at a scale that extends beyond Iran itself, reaching the Gulf, global energy flows, and the wider economic system.

Over the past three weeks of this Israeli-US illegal war, Tehran has shown no inclination toward negotiation or de-escalation. The confrontation was not of its choosing, but it is one it is prepared to sustain. Iranian missile strikes are already imposing tangible costs across the region, affecting Gulf infrastructure, US military assets, and, above all, Israel. This is not a short campaign. It is the opening phase of a war of attrition that Iran appears willing to carry over the long term.

At the centre of this confrontation lies a critical vulnerability: the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s pressure campaign has, perhaps unintentionally, elevated the strait from a strategic asset to a central battleground. Iran is fully aware of this shift and has structured its posture accordingly.