Friction to fracture: Iran war breaks Indonesia-Iran ties
Why it matters: Indonesia's energy security was undermined, and 1.17 trillion rupiah (US$68.8 million) in Iranian assets are at stake.
- Iran detained two Indonesian oil tankers, VLCC Pertamina Pride and PIS Gamsunoro, in the Strait of Hormuz, while granting priority clearance to Malaysia and Thailand.
- Tehran views Jakarta as an untrustworthy partner due to an accumulation of tensions, including the protracted legal dispute over Indonesia's seizure of the Iranian MT Arman 114 tanker.
- Indonesia's Batam District Court ordered the confiscation of the MT Arman 114 and its 1.2 million barrels of crude oil in July 2025, a ruling Tehran perceived as influenced by US sanctions.
- Indonesia reportedly canceled Iran's participation in the fifth Multilateral Naval Exercise Komodo (MNEK) in February 2025, allegedly under pressure from the US Pentagon.
- President Prabowo Subianto's administration faced a costly stress test, securing the release of its tankers through Malaysian mediation but raising questions about Indonesia's strategic autonomy.
- Jakarta's diplomatic ambiguity is evident in its dual engagement, formally joining BRICS in January 2025 while maintaining an ambiguous posture on US-Israeli strikes, seemingly to assuage Washington.
Indonesia and Iran's long-standing strategic alignment has fractured, culminating in Iran's detention of Indonesian oil tankers and exposing deep bilateral tensions. This crisis, rooted in Indonesia's seizure of an Iranian tanker and its perceived alignment with Western powers, challenges Jakarta's foreign policy autonomy and President Prabowo Subianto's administration.
