GENEVA — At a United Nations forum in Geneva this week, Iran’s delegation emphatically restated its decades-old claim over the Persian Gulf, declaring “the Persian Gulf will always remain Persian” in remarks that reignited a long-simmering dispute with neighboring Arab states and underscored the Iranian regime’s aggressive regional ambitions. The statement, made on the floor of a high-level diplomatic session, comes as Iran continues to exert influence across the Middle East via proxy forces and stands at the center of intensifying geopolitical rivalries with Israel and Sunni-led Arab nations.
The controversy over the naming of the Persian Gulf extends far beyond semantics. For the Iranian government, led by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and underpinned by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the term is central to Iranian national identity and a symbol of regional hegemony. For decades, any deviation—such as the Arab world’s use of “Arabian Gulf”—has drawn fierce condemnation from Tehran, reflecting not just historical grievances but realpolitik struggles for control over one of the world’s most strategic waterways.
The Persian Gulf—a conduit for nearly a third of global oil exports—serves as an economic and military lifeline for the Gulf states and as a flashpoint in the enduring rivalry between Iran and its regional adversaries. Iran’s assertion in Geneva must therefore be read as an unambiguous signal of deterrence to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain, all of which rely on U.S. and Western security guarantees to protect shipping lanes and deter Iranian aggression.
Regional Security Threats and Iran’s Expanding Axis of Influence
This latest display in Geneva arrives as Iran accelerates its activities across the region, sustaining proxies that threaten the security of Israel and the broader stability of the Middle East. The Iranian regime’s backing of terror organizations—including Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Houthis in Yemen—forms part of what Israeli officials and Western analysts label the “axis of resistance.” This network is orchestrated primarily by the IRGC and aims to encircle Israel while undermining Western-aligned governments.
The October 7, 2023 attack led by Hamas on Israeli territory—described by international observers as the deadliest act of antisemitic violence since the Holocaust—marked a grim milestone in Iran’s ongoing campaign of terror by proxy. The event, characterized by mass murder, sexual violence, and the abduction of innocent Israeli civilians, revealed the depth of Tehran’s support for anti-Israel terror and the strategic coordination underway between the IRGC and its armed clients.
As a direct response, Israel has intensified its self-defense operations—recently under the banner of the Iron Swords War—across multiple fronts, targeting Hamas in Gaza and preparing for potential escalation with Hezbollah along its northern border. Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz, have repeatedly warned that Iran’s regional designs necessitate continued vigilance and robust counterterrorism measures.
The Persian Gulf: A Symbol and a Battleground
International focus on the Persian Gulf underscores how deeply intertwined symbolic disputes are with practical security concerns. Iranian authorities have, in recent years, seized oil tankers, harassed commercial traffic, and conducted naval exercises designed to demonstrate military reach and deter Western intervention. These provocations are routinely accompanied by threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global energy supplies.
In Geneva, Iranian officials couched their rhetoric in terms of sovereignty and anti-colonial resistance, but their actions reveal an ongoing campaign to destabilize Western-friendly regimes and project power beyond Iran’s borders. Far from isolated, this campaign is actively waged using asymmetric tactics: rocket fire, drone attacks, cyber intrusions, and direct militia engagement in conflicts from Iraq to Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen.
For Gulf Arab states—many of which have recently deepened security and intelligence cooperation with Israel, most significantly through the Abraham Accords—the Geneva declaration is a reminder of their own vulnerability to IRGC threats. These countries have long depended on U.S. and allied coalitions to counterbalance Iranian encroachment, though recent years have seen renewed efforts to pursue indigenous missile defense and counter-drone capacities, often in partnership with Israel.
The Continuing Threat to Israel and the West
Israel remains the primary target of Iran’s regional strategy. The Iranian leadership’s public commitment to support and arm groups intent on Israel’s destruction forms a stark contrast with Israel’s status as a sovereign democracy defending itself against external aggression. Analysts have pointed out that Tehran uses platforms like the UN not only to voice its positions but also to signal to its network of proxies that the struggle against Israel and moderate Arab regimes is ongoing and multifaceted.
Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, Chief of Staff of the IDF, has stated that Israel considers these diplomatic outbursts as further justification for robust defense and ongoing strikes against Iranian-aligned targets. Israeli strikes in Syria, for example, routinely target IRGC and other affiliated militias responsible for smuggling advanced weapons to Hezbollah, whose arsenal already includes tens of thousands of rockets aimed at Israeli cities.
The Houthis in Yemen, another major IRGC-backed force, continue to endanger Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb shipping, with several attacks on vessels linked to Israel and the West, threatening the global supply chain. The expansion of this so-called axis of resistance—blessed by Tehran and given operational independence—demonstrates how Iranian ambitions manifest in persistent, cross-border violence affecting Israelis, Arab allies, and Western interests alike.
Diplomatic Frontlines: The United Nations and the Contest for Legitimacy
Geneva’s UN platform provides Iran with an important stage from which to challenge Western and regional narratives. While Iranian diplomats accuse rivals of colonialist ambitions, Western and Israeli representatives have countered by highlighting Iran’s material support for terrorism, its suppression of dissent at home, and its efforts to undermine the international order through violence and subversion.
This battle for legitimacy often plays out in parallel to real-world hostilities. Israeli envoys, joined by representatives from the U.S. and Europe, continue to call attention to Iran’s violations of international law and its role in stoking violence from Gaza to Beirut to Sana’a. At the same time, Iran leverages its revolutionary ideology to portray itself as the vanguard of resistance against imperialism, aiming to rally support both at home and in the broader Muslim world despite growing evidence of its regional destabilization.
Strategic and Historical Context
Iran’s modern claim to the Persian Gulf dates back centuries, but its current significance is deeply tied to post-1979 revolutionary ideology. The doctrine of exporting the Islamic Revolution includes an explicit commitment—enshrined by the IRGC—to contest Western and Israeli influence through proxy warfare and state-sponsored terror.
The dynamics of the Persian Gulf crisis are further framed by Iran’s economic challenges and domestic unrest. Since the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal and the re-imposition of sanctions under the Trump administration, Iran’s economy has suffered, and internal dissent has grown. Domestic pressures have often led the regime to double down on nationalist rhetoric, using territorial assertions to foster unity and distract from hardship.
Outlook: The Road Ahead for Israel and Its Allies
The Geneva session confirmed the intractable nature of Iran’s stance on the Persian Gulf, foreshadowing persistent friction with Arab states and ongoing threats to Israeli security. In recent months, Israel’s strategic alliances across the Middle East have grown stronger in response to Iran’s belligerence, leading to deeper security cooperation and a renewed commitment to countering terrorism.
The message for Israel is clear: until the international community effectively curtails Iran’s terror apparatus—the IRGC and its regional proxies—the quest for regional stability will continue to meet sustained resistance. The contest over the Persian Gulf’s identity and control is emblematic of a broader struggle for the future of the Middle East, in which Israel remains both a frontline target and an indispensable partner to those determined to resist Iranian ambitions and restore order to a volatile region.
