IRGC expands maritime restrictions into Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea, warns of 20-to-2 retaliation

TEHRAN — Iran has expanded its maritime restrictions beyond the Strait of Hormuz to parts of the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea, while the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said U.S. warships have with     drawn at least 400 kilometers from the strategic waterway, as Tehran warned it would answer every two or three enemy targets with strikes on 20.
IRGC spokesman Brigadier General Hussein Mohebbi said on Wednesday that the expanded restricted maritime zone will begin around the southeastern port of Chabahar and extend across parts of the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea, including routes that could lead toward the Strait of Hormuz. He said the precise coordinates will be announced later.
“We have reached a point where if the enemy hits two or three of our targets, we will respond strongly with 20 targets,” Mohebbi told reporters.
He said the U.S. naval presence in the Persian Gulf has dramatically changed since the beginning of the 40-day “Ramadan War” in February. 
“Before the Ramadan War, about 30 to 40 U.S. warships and naval vessels were present inside the Persian Gulf, but today not a single one of them is in this area,” Mohebbi said. “U.S. warships have distanced themselves at least 400 kilometers from the Strait of Hormuz.”
The remarks came amid a sharp escalation between Iran and the United States following U.S. attacks on Iranian vessels and Iranian retaliatory missile operations against American military and naval assets in the region.

Mohebbi said the expansion of the maritime zone represents a broader application of Iran’s control over the waterways surrounding the Strait of Hormuz. The strait will remain the main area for direct military confrontation, while the newly designated zone will constitute a wider enforcement perimeter.
“Previously, if an adversarial vessel or even a commercial ship intended to enter or exit without coordination, we considered the Strait of Hormuz as the main area for confrontation. But now, the intended zone is much wider,” he said.
Under the new measures, vessels entering the expanded zone without coordination will face Iranian sanctions, including restrictions on their subsequent use of the Strait of Hormuz and denial of port, insurance and other logistical services, Mohebbi said.
“If a vessel enters this [new] zone without coordination, it will be subject to our sanctions measures,” he said. “This means that if it later attempts to use the Strait of Hormuz, it will be denied passage. Furthermore, we will refuse to provide it with port services, insurance, and other necessary logistical support.”
He said the concept of a maritime blockade is not confined to the narrow geographical limits of a strait and could be pursued across a much broader area extending through the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea.
“Maritime blockade is not limited to a strait where action is taken only at that point,” Mohebbi said, adding that Iran has “various ways” of implementing such measures but that details could not currently be disclosed.
The announcement followed comments by Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, that Iran will soon extend its maritime ban beyond the Strait of Hormuz.
According to IRNA, Mohebbi said the restricted area will “approximately begin from the direction of Chabahar and extend through parts of the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.”
The development came after an overnight escalation in which Iran responded to U.S. attacks on Iranian oil vessels with heavy missile strikes against American military and naval assets.
The U.S. aggression also came after the IRGC captured an advanced U.S. unmanned underwater vehicle at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, describing the operation as evidence of its ability to monitor and control the strategic waterway.
Mohebbi pointed to the capture as an example of Iran’s established power and authority over the strait.
“The power, authority and management of Iran over the Strait of Hormuz has today been realized, established and proven,” he said.
He said Iran is using the geography of Hormuz as “one of the determining equations in the global order and the fate of the war,” adding that any vessel seeking to pass through the strait without taking Iran’s management into account will be unable to do so.
“The Strait of Hormuz is our strait of power,” Mohebbi said.
He described the identification, surveillance, trapping and targeting of the U.S. underwater vehicle as a tangible demonstration of that capability and said preventing unauthorized vessels from passing through the strait, as well as preventing the movement of enemy weapons, form part of Iran’s deterrent posture.
Mohebbi also said Iran’s newer weapons and missiles could strike targets at considerable distances, pointing to an attack on a U.S. aircraft carrier several days earlier at a distance of about 500 kilometers.
“We have reached a point where if the enemy hits two or three of our targets, we will respond strongly with 20 targets,” he said.
He said Iran will use its capabilities to respond to aggression and deter further attacks.
“The Islamic Republic will use this power to respond to the enemy’s aggression and make the enemy regret continuing its aggression,” he said.
Mohebbi described the United States as facing mounting operational and logistical pressure from maintaining its military posture in the region.
“America certainly will not be able to continue this situation for a long time, as it faces severe attrition, both in terms of the morale of its military forces in the region and its weapons and warships,” he said.
He stressed that maintaining naval forces requires extensive logistical preparations and imposed costs that Washington will increasingly struggle to sustain.
“Presence at sea is very different from presence on land and requires extensive arrangements and preparations,” he said, stating that the United States faces heavy financial and operational costs as Iran relies on its regional capabilities and asymmetric means to confront aggression and protect its national interests.
The maritime measures were announced alongside a broader message from Mohebbi about Iran’s response doctrine. Rather than treating attacks against individual targets as isolated incidents, he said Iran has reached a point where any U.S. strike would generate a substantially wider response.
The same principle, he said, underpins Iran’s approach to the Strait of Hormuz: unauthorized movement will not be treated as ordinary passage but as an action subject to Iran’s expanded enforcement measures.