Iran’s expansion in the Strait of Hormuz and the Iran-Afghan border

Iran is implementing plans to increase the population of islands in the strategic Strait of Hormuz in the Arabian Sea. The United Arab Emirates also claims the islands. The strait, considered crucial for Iran’s maritime defence, is crossed by, among others, tankers and warships. The subject of a long-standing dispute between the two countries is the islands of Abu Musa, Lesser Tunb and Greater Tunb. By granting settlement privileges, the Iranians intend to increase the population of the first island from several thousand to even over 1.7 million inhabitants.

Iran and Afghanistan were expected to expand cooperation between intelligence services in combating terrorism, as repeated terrorist attacks in Iran exposed the weaknesses of its security services. One of the targets of joint activities is IS, which has settled in the mountains of northern Afghanistan and is carrying out attacks in southern Iran, for example, in the Shah Cheraq mausoleum and mosque in Shiraz. Iran and Afghanistan share a border of approximately 950 km, which is challenging to secure because it partially runs through high mountains.

Saudi Arabia highlighted the “positive results” of negotiations with the Houthi movement after a meeting to end the war in Yemen. The talks included accelerating payments and salaries and resolving the Yemen humanitarian crisis. The Houthis have long demanded that the Saudi-led coalition pay the salaries of all state employees – including the armed forces – from Yemen’s oil and gas revenues and open all Yemeni airports and ports that the Houthi movement controls.