Experts lampoon IRGC demand for ships to use Persian in Hormuz Strait

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) continues to challenge international maritime laws and regulations in the Gulf, recently imposing new demands on mariners that appear to be intended to cause trouble, experts say.

In the latest round of mischief-making, IRGC Navy (IRGCN) commander Alireza Tangsiri announced that "all ships passing through the Hormuz Strait must identify themselves in Farsi", Iranian media reported June 23.

"Today, the Islamic Republic is responsible for controlling the ships' entryway to the Strait of Hormuz and our neighbouring country Oman is responsible for controlling the outlet," he said.

At its narrowest point, the Strait of Hormuz and its shipping lanes lie entirely within Iran and Oman's territorial waters, according to the BBC.

But international conventions give ships the right of passage through a state's territorial waters, it said, noting that "Iran is allowed to act in its own territorial waters -- but not at the expense of the right of passage for foreign ships".

In 1988, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) made "Seaspeak", based on English -- then the most common language used at sea and in civil aviation -- the official language of the sea, which ships of all nations use to communicate.

Safety is the main reason for the use of Seaspeak, which has been further developed and refined in subsequent years.

In November 2001, IMO's 22nd Assembly adopted the IMO Standard Marine Communication Phrases (SMCP) and recommended a wide circulation to all prospective users and all maritime education authorities, its website said.

The SMCP replaced the Standard Marine Navigational Vocabulary (SMNV) adopted by IMO in 1977 (and amended in 1985), and has since been the language of international maritime communications.

It builds on a basic knowledge of English and has been drafted in a simplified version of maritime English. It includes phrases for use in routine situations as well as standard phrases and responses for use in emergency situations.

'Clueless' IRGC officials

Iranian media posted Tangsiri's recent remarks on social media, where they were met with criticism and ridicule from Iranians.

"These IRGC officials are clueless," one user posted. "They seem to be unaware of the international laws."

Another user sarcastically commented, "Great! Now this little bit of English that IRGC forces spoke out of necessity will be erased, too!" Another user responded, "No it won't. They have to stick to English. This is only shameful for the nation."

Some in Iran regard the recent insistence on Persian communication in the Strait of Hormuz as hypocritical, given the regime's lack of interest in the language.

A Tehran-based professor of Persian literature who previously served on a team working on school textbooks noted the regime's inattention to the importance of the Persian language.

"My colleagues and I have been trying for years to attract Iranian officials' attention to the importance of the Persian language," she told Al-Mashareq on condition of anonymity.

"We have been discouraged, particularly during the presidency of Ebrahim Raisi," she said.

"The regime prefers Arabic, because it is the language of Islam," she added. "If officials could, they would totally erase the Persian language and Iranian culture. Now suddenly they are pro-Persian?"

Not the first time

In a 2020 interview, deputy IRGC commander and former IRGCN commander Ali Fadavi claimed that during the 1990s, captains of US ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz were told to speak in Persian.

"One day in the '90s, during my tenure, we said, 'This is the Persian Gulf, and you must speak in Persian.' From then on, American -- and later non-American -- personnel had Persian-speaking people on their ships," he said.

Attempting to clarify his remarks, he said, "The Persian speakers are not Iranian -- they are American, but speak fluent Persian."

And with a laugh, he went on, "Of course we did not enforce this rule 100%, since it would dissuade our own crews from speaking English."

Experts lampooned his remarks as an "outrageous demand".

"This would be a total violation of IMO rules," an Iranian naval expert told Al-Mashareq on condition of anonymity. "Moreover, it would not be enforceable for that exact reason."

"When Fadavi made that remark three years ago, anyone who had an ounce of maritime knowledge ridiculed him."

History of harassment

The IRGC has a long history of harassing ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

On June 14, media reports indicated that Iran had "tested a suicide drone against a practice vessel in the Gulf and fired one other missile or drone without warning ships in the area", the International Crisis Group said.

According to an unnamed US official, Iran was "essentially practicing hitting merchant vessels. That's the only reason why you would do that in the Gulf of Oman".

On June 4, US and UK vessels, supported by a patrol aircraft, responded to a distress call from a merchant vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz, as IRGCN fast-attack boats harassed the commercial ship, the International Crisis Group added.

IRGCN forces on May 3 seized a Panama-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, in the second such incident in less than a week.

The tanker, Niovi, was sailing from Dubai towards the Emirati port of Fujairah when it was stopped at approximately 6.20am local time, the US Navy said.

The US Navy's 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, said in a statement that it was working with allies and partners to protect the crucial chokepoint into the Gulf.

"We've seen repeated Iranian threats, arm seizures and attacks against commercial shippers who are exercising their navigational rights and freedoms in international waters and strategic waterways of the region," US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

"The United States will not allow foreign or regional powers to jeopardise freedom of navigation through the Middle East waterways including the Strait of Hormuz," he said.

On April 27, IRGCN forces seized a US-bound Marshall Islands-flagged tanker as it transited international waters in the Gulf of Oman.

"Iran's actions are contrary to international law and disruptive to regional security and stability," the 5th Fleet said.