Iran: "South Korea Should Refrain from Deploying Troops to Hormuz"... Fears Situation Could Worsen

The Iranian government expressed concern over the possibility of deploying the South Korean Navy to the region to resume transit through the Strait of Hormuz and urged South Korea to refrain from intervening.

After the Strait of Hormuz, which had briefly reopened following the ceasefire between the United States and Iran that took effect on April 9 (Korea time), was fully closed again, numerous oil tankers and cargo ships were reported stranded, according to the real-time vessel-tracking website MarineTraffic.

At a regular briefing on November 9 (local time), Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei commented on the expansion of the operational area of South Korea's Cheonghae Unit, saying, "South Korea should refrain from deploying military forces to the region under the pretext of supporting the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz."

He added, "South Korea should avoid getting involved in a situation that is already sufficiently complex."

On relations between the two countries, Baghaei said, "Iran and South Korea have maintained a longstanding friendly relationship for more than 60 years, based on mutual respect and the interests of both countries."

He continued, "We hope South Korea will not align itself with the United States and others and appear complicit in military aggression," adding, "We hope it will refrain from any action that could further complicate the situation in the region."

This is seen as a response to the South Korean government's decision, amid pressure from the United States, to expand the Cheonghae Unit's area of operations to waters near the Strait of Hormuz.

Earlier, the government decided to expand the operational area of the Cheonghae Unit, which protects commercial vessels in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia, to waters south of Oman. It also decided to deploy additional assets, including maritime patrol aircraft, an explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team, and unmanned mine-clearing equipment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.