Qeshm: Iran's Underground Missile City in the Strait of Hormuz
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- Qeshm Island spans approximately 1,445 sq km and sits just 22 km south of Bandar Abbas, physically dominating the Clarence Strait entrance to the Strait of Hormuz from the Gulf and acting as a 'cork' in the world's most vital energy transit passage.
- Iran's IRGC has built underground 'missile cities' on Qeshm designed to control or close the Strait of Hormuz, according to retired Lebanese Brigadier-General Hassan Jouni, who told Al Jazeera the island houses 'striking Iranian capabilities' within its subterranean labyrinths.
- US air strikes on March 7 — one week into the war — targeted a critical desalination plant on Qeshm, cutting off freshwater supplies to 30 surrounding villages; Tehran branded the attack a 'flagrant crime' against civilians.
- The IRGC retaliated by striking US forces at Juffair base in Bahrain, alleging the Qeshm attack had been launched from a neighboring Gulf state.
- Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz was effectively halted last week when Iran threatened to strike ships attempting to pass; only a handful of vessels carrying vital oil and gas supplies are now allowed through as countries negotiate deals and the Trump administration assembles a naval convoy to forcibly open the waterway.
- Qeshm's colonial history spans centuries of conflict, including a 1621 Portuguese stone fort, its 1622 recapture by a combined Persian-English force in a battle that killed British Arctic navigator William Baffin, and a British naval base at Basidu that operated until 1863.
Why it matters: Qeshm's underground missile infrastructure gives Iran a credible threat to choke off roughly a fifth of global oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, and the March 7 US strike on its desalination plant — cutting water to 30 villages — marks an escalation that already triggered Iranian retaliation against US forces in Bahrain.
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