Iran International
Iran has paired a sharp escalation on the water with increasingly explicit threats, signaling what appears to be a deliberate move to deter further US attempts to reopen shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
Missile and drone activity reported around the Strait and in the United Arab Emirates on Monday—alongside disputed encounters at sea—suggest Tehran is beginning to act on warnings it had issued only hours earlier.
But the more revealing shift may be in tone.
Iranian military and affiliated voices have moved quickly to frame the moment not as a clash, but as enforcement.
“The Strait of Hormuz is entirely under Iranian control,” a senior Iranian source said, according to Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Mayadeen. “The message to the American aggressors is: Advance, and you will be targeted.”
‘Asymmetric operations’
That message builds on earlier warnings from senior commanders that any transit not coordinated with Iranian forces could be treated as a threat.
Ali-Akbar Ahmadian, a member of Iran’s Defense Council, pushed the line further, warning that any US action targeting shipping or energy infrastructure would be met with the Islamic Republic’s “asymmetric operations.”
The statements point to a posture that is no longer simply declaratory, but increasingly operational, especially against the backdrop of state-linked rhetoric in the hours before the incidents..
One day before the reported attacks in the UAE, Iranian state television accused Abu Dhabi of involvement in strikes on Iran’s Siri and Lavan islands during the US-led war, claiming Emirati Mirage jets, Wing Loong drones and unmarked F-16s had taken part.
The claims—unverified but widely circulated in Iranian media—help set the stage for a narrative in which regional actors are treated not as bystanders but as participants, and therefore legitimate targets.
That framing was reinforced after the incidents. Regional authorities reported missile and drone launches toward the UAE, while Iranian media attributed damage at energy facilities in Fujairah to what it described as US “military adventurism,” denying any pre-planned Iranian attack.
‘Ships are moving’
At sea, accounts have diverged sharply but point to the same underlying reality: rising friction around attempts to move vessels through the Strait.
US officials said commercial ships had transited and that Iranian threats had been contained. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, however, denied that any passage had taken place and warned that “violating vessels” would be stopped.
Iranian media reported that ships attempting to cross were forced to turn back, while Washington rejected claims that its naval forces had been pushed out of the area.
US President Donald Trump, for his part, stopped short of declaring the ceasefire violated.
“(It was) not heavy firing,” he said in a phone interview, adding that “ships are moving” and that reports of recent exchanges were still being assessed.
The combination of rhetoric, incidents and competing claims suggests Tehran is seeking to impose a new reality in the Strait—one in which access is conditional and enforced.
Political figures have echoed that direction, pointing to efforts to formalize new rules governing transit and warning that any US role in shaping maritime access would be treated as a violation of ceasefire terms.
For now, the message from Tehran appears consistent: movement through the Strait will not be uncontested, and any attempt to bypass Iranian control risks drawing a response.
Tehran’s unveiling of a towering statue depicting the Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling before pre-Islamic Persian King Shapur I has renewed criticism of the Islamic Republic’s appeal to nationalist sentiment following the June war with Israel.
For over forty years, the theocracy purged ancient Persian history from schoolbooks, replacing it with post-Islamic narratives. But after the 12-day conflict with Israel, officials have turned to the distant pre-Islamic past to rally a divided society.
From murals of ancient kings and soldiers to patriotic songs added to Shi’ite mourning ceremonies performed before Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, Tehran now embraces imagery once deemed heretical by its own revolutionary ethos.
'Kneel before Iran' campaign
Tehran’s Revolution (Enghelab) Square was the scene of an unusual spectacle on Friday as officials unveiled a massive bronze statue depicting Roman Emperor Valerian kneeling in submission before Sassanid King Shapur I, commemorating Iran’s victory at the Battle of Edessa (260 AD).
The event was held under the slogan “Kneel before Iran,” part of what authorities describe as a campaign to project “national unity and historical pride” following the June war with Israel.
Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a staunch ultraconservative, said on X: “Enmity with Great Iran can only end in kneeling before this historic nation.”
Municipal official Davood Goodarzi said the installation would be accompanied by visual displays depicting “other victories of Iranians over foreign aggressors,” including the defeat of British forces by local commander Rais-Ali Delvari, Mirza Kuchak Khan’s resistance against Russian troops, and Surena’s triumph over Rome at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BCE.
The goal, Goodarzi said, is “strengthening concepts such as national dignity, social unity, and Iranian identity.”
The statue, he said, would remain temporarily at Revolution Square before being moved to a city gateway “where it will stand as the first emblem of Iran before diplomats and foreign visitors.”
Unveiled women were allowed to attend the unveiling ceremony—an uncommon scene at events organized by Tehran’s ultra-hardline municipality.
The turn to the pre-Islamic past
The sharp reversal also recalls remarks once made by Khamenei. In a 2011 speech, he asserted that “all the great military victories of this nation came after Islam,” dismissing pre-Islamic accounts as “things that are not documented.”
In 1987, he had said that prophets triumphed over kings such as Cyrus and that “nothing remains of these monarchs in history but names remembered with derision.”
Nevertheless, pro-government social media accounts have now gone so far as to circulate posters equating Khamenei himself with Shapur, showing him standing with a staff as Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump kneel before him. The caption reads: “You will kneel before Iran.”
'Hypocrisy'
Pro-government figures have hailed the move as a patriotic success. Conservative political reporter Hossein Saremi posted: “Today’s grand Iranian gathering showed that people and the state share one essence: Iran itself. Nothing can take our homeland away.”
Others, however, called the spectacle “hypocrisy.” Journalist Gholamhossein Pashaei wrote on X: “Every year you close Pasargadae to stop people from celebrating Cyrus Day, yet you unveil Shapur’s statue in Enghelab Square with drums and fireworks during Fatimiyya (mourning period)!”
Dissident commentator Hamid Asafi called the ceremony “a perfect snapshot of the Islamic Republic’s contradictions.”
On Telegram he wrote: “A week ago they closed Cyrus’s tomb out of fear of the crowds, and now they glorify Shapur in the same breath. The Islamic Republic fears living history but poses for selfies with its corpse.”
He added: “They know people no longer respond to rosaries and sermons. That’s why they’ve brought history back to the stage—in a controlled costume. If they can’t erase the past, they’ll try to own it.”
The irony deepened as UNESCO formally recognized Cyrus’s Charter as one of the earliest human-rights documents.
President Masoud Pezeshkian wrote on X: “Iran, the cradle of dialogue, justice, and coexistence, can still inspire peace today.”
Users swiftly replied, questioning how such pride could coexist with a government that blocks access to Cyrus’s tomb each year to those wishing to visit it on his birthday.