Iran Warns South Korea Over Navy Unit’s Move Toward Hormuz

Share on WhatsApp FILE: Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei holds a weekly press conference in Tehran on Oct. 28, 2024. Baghaei warned on Nov. 12, 2026, that any state supporting U.S. military operations near the Strait of Hormuz would bear responsibility for the consequences, days after urging South Korea by name to keep its navy out of the region. Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images Iran warned on Thursday that any country that supports U.S. military operations near the Strait of Hormuz will bear full responsibility for the consequences, a message that came two days after South Korea’s Cabinet approved a plan to move its anti-piracy naval unit closer to the waterway. Seoul says the unit will stay out of the strait and out of the war.

Esmaeil Baghaei, the spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, wrote on social media that deploying naval forces, military equipment or personnel, or providing logistical support for American operations would be a hostile and unlawful act. “Any state that may participate in such unlawful aggressions, in whatever form, shall bear full responsibility for the resulting repercussions,” he wrote. He added that justifications such as protecting freedom of navigation or countering piracy would not change what he called the unlawful nature of taking part.

The post did not name South Korea. Its timing and wording, however, tracked a warning Baghaei delivered to Seoul by name on Monday. “Korea should refrain from sending its military forces to the region to carry out certain naval operations aimed at helping reopen the Strait of Hormuz,” he told reporters in Tehran, and should keep itself out of an issue that is complicated enough as it is. He said the two countries had maintained relations for more than 60 years on the basis of mutual respect and that Iran hoped South Korea would not be seen as an accomplice to American military aggression.

FILE: South Korean Navy sailors salute during a ceremony marking the launch of the Cheonghae Unit in the southeastern port city of Busan on March 3, 2009, when the task force was formed to fight piracy off Somalia. South Korea’s Cabinet approved a plan on Nov. 10, 2026, to expand the unit’s area of operations to waters south of Oman. Choi Jae-ho/AFP via Getty Images The object of the warnings is the Cheonghae Unit, a South Korean naval contingent that has patrolled against pirates off Somalia for more than a decade. On Tuesday, the Cabinet in Seoul approved a proposal to expand the unit’s area of operations to waters south of Oman. The plan still requires approval by the National Assembly.

South Korean officials have described the move in narrow terms. They say the expanded mission does not include the Strait of Hormuz, that it is meant to protect Korean personnel, nationals and vessels from a rise in piracy in nearby waters, and that South Korean forces will not take part in the war against Iran. The Foreign Ministry has said it is communicating with relevant countries, including Iran, though it has not said whether it explained the plan to Tehran before announcing it.

Washington’s pressure is the backdrop. President Donald Trump has called on South Korea and other countries to help secure the strait, through which about a fifth of the world’s petroleum normally passes, and he has criticized Seoul for its reluctance to join American operations. He said South Korea’s answer to one request was “No thanks!” South Korean officials disputed that account as inconsistent with the facts. The expansion of the unit’s patrol area follows months of that pressure, though the Defense Ministry has tied it to piracy.

Seoul has been here before. In 2020, during an earlier period of tension between Washington and Tehran, South Korea widened the same unit’s operating area to include the strait while declining to join a U.S.-led maritime coalition, an arrangement meant to satisfy its ally without antagonizing Iran. The following year, Iranian forces seized a South Korean tanker in the Gulf amid a dispute over Iranian funds frozen in South Korean banks under American sanctions. The ship and its crew were later released, and the episode left officials in Seoul wary of how quickly a naval gesture can become a hostage to the wider conflict.

The stakes are higher now. The United States and Israel have been at war with Iran since Feb. 28, the strait has been largely closed to commercial traffic for months, and Iranian forces report tankers striking mines there almost daily. On Thursday, Trump said the United States no longer needs a deal with Iran and reassigned the vice president who had been leading diplomacy, a statement that points to a prolonged blockade. South Korea imports most of its crude oil from the Middle East, which gives it a direct interest in the security of the sea lanes and a direct exposure if its ships are treated as targets.

Analysts in Seoul have warned about the gap between what South Korea intends and what Iran perceives. Kwak Jin-o, a South Korean security analyst, said Seoul needs to make sure Tehran understands that it is staying out of the war, and that activities such as supporting other countries’ operations could send a different message and raise the risk of an accidental clash. Baghaei’s Thursday post suggests that Tehran is not prepared to accept the distinction between patrolling against pirates and assisting the American effort.

The decision also carries weight inside the alliance. South Korea hosts about 28,500 American troops and depends on Washington for deterrence against North Korea, which this week published a constitution that defines the South as a separate state and drops any reference to reunification. A government in Seoul that declines American requests in the Gulf risks friction with the White House at a time when it wants U.S. attention on the peninsula. One that agrees risks being drawn into a war it has said it will not join.

For Iran, the warning serves a wider purpose. Tehran has tried throughout the conflict to discourage third countries from joining American naval operations, arguing that the United States and Israel bear sole responsibility for the closure of the strait. Singling out a major Asian importer signals to other governments weighing similar deployments that Iran will not treat a defensive label as neutral.

Several markers will show how this develops. The first is the National Assembly’s handling of the deployment plan and any conditions lawmakers attach to it. The second is whether Seoul publicly defines the unit’s rules, including whether it would share information with or escort ships alongside U.S. forces. The third is whether Iran moves beyond statements, for example by summoning South Korea’s ambassador or interfering with Korean-linked shipping. The fourth is whether Washington presses for more than a patrol south of Oman.

For now, both governments are speaking past each other. South Korea says it is sending ships to guard against pirates in waters outside the strait. Iran says the label does not matter. The distance between those positions is the space in which an incident at sea could occur.

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