Iran's Khamenei Urges Gulf Unity as Hormuz Standoff Drags On

Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei used a written message marking Islamic Unity Week to press Gulf Arab rulers to set aside divisions and confront what he described as their common adversary. The appeal, released through his Telegram channel, arrives six months into a conflict that began with U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and left the younger leader largely out of public view.

Khamenei framed the call in familiar terms. He asked whether Palestinians would remain “so helpless” if Muslim governments had coordinated more effectively, and whether unnamed “rogues without identity” would have moved against Gulf resources if regional states had aligned under a single Islamic banner. The language echoes longstanding Iranian arguments that external powers exploit intra-Muslim splits, yet it also arrives at a moment when Tehran’s own leverage has narrowed.

The Strait of Hormuz remains the clearest point of friction. Roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments once moved through the waterway; Iran’s restrictions have kept volumes well below pre-conflict levels. Iranian officials say a temporary maritime arrangement with Oman is ready but contingent on U.S. follow-through on earlier understandings—an assertion Washington has not confirmed. The uncertainty has sustained elevated energy prices and forced Gulf states to weigh short-term security cooperation with the United States against longer-term exposure to Iranian retaliation.

U.S. policy continues to layer economic pressure atop the military campaign. The Treasury Department’s “Operation Economic Outcast” seeks to sever remaining Iranian access to international finance, a step officials argue will force concessions. Iranian leaders have instead presented the additional sanctions as evidence that any future deal must include durable guarantees against renewed isolation. President Masoud Pezeshkian has signaled openness to negotiations from a position of “power and dignity,” but Iranian statements consistently tie that posture to retaining some capacity to impose costs on shipping lanes and regional targets.

American military planners are meanwhile flagging the limits of sustained operations. Assessments shared with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth note that extended deployments in the Middle East constrain readiness for contingencies in Asia and Europe. Force levels above 50,000 personnel remain in theater, with some units now projected to stay through 2027. Those constraints coincide with Iranian efforts to portray endurance as a viable strategy: absorb pressure, maintain core leverage, and wait for political or economic shifts in Washington or allied capitals.

Regional mediators, particularly Oman, continue low-profile diplomacy aimed at reopening the strait and clarifying sanctions relief. Progress has been incremental at best. Gulf governments have not publicly embraced Khamenei’s unity appeal, given decades of suspicion toward Iranian revolutionary rhetoric and recent strikes on infrastructure in several Arab states. Yet the message underscores Tehran’s calculation that sustained division among its neighbors serves U.S. objectives more than Iranian ones.

The broader pattern is one of mutual reinforcement. Each round of sanctions or military signaling strengthens Iranian arguments for retaining asymmetric tools, while those tools justify further external pressure. Breaking that cycle would require sequencing that addresses both Hormuz access and verifiable limits on Iran’s regional activities—elements that have so far proved difficult to align.