Nournews: The global consequences of American-Israeli warmongering and Iran’s comprehensive resistance against it are expanding day by day. At the same time, regional and extra-regional diplomatic efforts to contain the crisis have intensified. Meanwhile, Tehran has stressed in response to the rhetoric of Trump and the Israeli regime that any act of aggression will be met with responses extending beyond the region and accompanied by new strategic initiatives.
These developments, alongside Europe’s irresponsible behavior — which, through sanctions and threats, creates artificial confidence for aggressors — as well as the contradictions and widespread instability in Trump’s conduct, have further complicated the situation. In such an atmosphere, cognitive warfare is being pursued with the aim of breaking Iranian resilience and aligning global public opinion with America’s fundamentally illegitimate demands. Within this framework, a questionable binary between the “nuclear issue” and the “Strait of Hormuz” has been deliberately constructed.
The Project of Imposing the “Nuclear or Hormuz” Binary
Evidence suggests that while the Americans, on the one hand, advance excessive demands such as the removal of enriched uranium, long-term suspensions, and the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear expertise, they simultaneously claim that Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and the imposition of transit-related measures there are unacceptable. Yet in the cognitive sphere, they attempt to create the impression that abandoning one of the two components — the “nuclear program” or the “Strait of Hormuz” — could pave the way for ending the conflict and reaching an agreement.
By exploiting their media dominance, the Americans are also pursuing this binary through the polarization of society itself. Reports such as Reuters’ claim that some Iranian officials oppose the removal of enriched uranium from Iran, or Trump’s assertion that it is unclear who governs Tehran, are examples of this approach.
Rights That Are Neither Negotiable nor Separable
In this cognitive war, the narrative being promoted is that, given Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz, the country no longer needs nuclear capability and enrichment as a deterrent against threats — especially since the two imposed wars, the 12-day war and the Ramadan war, were both justified under the pretext of Iran’s nuclear activities. Another notion being promoted is that Iran could rely on revenues generated through the Strait of Hormuz and, as a member of the NPT, resume enrichment whenever it chooses in the future.
This binary framing ignores the reality that, on the one hand, the nuclear issue is not a bargaining tool but a deterrent component linked to national progress, while on the other hand, the Strait of Hormuz represents a sovereign right rather than a card for negotiation or leverage.
As a member of the NPT, Iran has the right to benefit from nuclear knowledge in all peaceful fields. Likewise, under international law, Iran possesses sovereign rights over the Strait of Hormuz in order to preserve its own security and that of the region — rights that cannot be denied or eliminated under any pretext.
Enrichment as a Guarantee of Scientific and Strategic Independence
Enrichment signifies that Iran has achieved this knowledge across multiple fields and, as a peaceful nuclear power, can utilize it for regional and global influence.
At the same time, global nuclear developments indicate that the West seeks to establish a form of scientific apartheid, whereby countries lacking enrichment capability in the coming years will effectively be deprived of access to this process altogether.
Such deprivation would ultimately lead to scientific, political, and economic dependency — a dependency carrying serious security threats. Therefore, the long-term consequences of relinquishing this right would far exceed the costs of today’s war aimed at preserving it.
The Strait of Hormuz: A Component of Security and the Right to Legitimate Defense
Within this framework, consolidating sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz can also be defined as part of the right to legitimate self-defense and countering threats against Iran’s and the region’s security. Under current regional and global conditions, compromising this right would run contrary to national security and national interests.
What should be regarded today as one of Iran’s key strategic advantages is the principle that sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz and the nuclear issue — much like defense industries and regional influence — constitutes an undeniable right of Iran. Each of these components reinforces and stabilizes the others. By relying on this authority, as well as shifts in the regional and global balance of power, Iran can continue pursuing its nuclear rights and bring an end to years of Western and IAEA political maneuvering.
The Strategic Link Between the Nuclear Issue and Hormuz in Power Equations
The fundamental factor in this arena is that Iran, by relying on its authority over the Strait of Hormuz, no longer needs to compromise on the nuclear issue. Rather, it can compel opposing parties to end their unlawful behavior and political manipulation regarding Iran’s indisputable nuclear rights.
The final assessment is that nuclear capability, in today’s world and in the future, remains an undeniable criterion for measuring national power. Even dominance over the Strait of Hormuz, without indigenous scientific capability and enrichment rights, cannot fully secure Iran’s interests. Any dependency in the nuclear and enrichment sphere would itself become an external pressure tool capable of negatively affecting Iran’s interests and objectives in the Strait of Hormuz as well.
In the cognitive domain, the enemy seeks — through the binary framing of the nuclear issue and the Strait of Hormuz — to trap Iran in a false dilemma between the two, with the intention of stripping away one “wing” in order to eventually force retreat from the other as well.
Accordingly, today’s battlefield, public sphere, and diplomacy must all be understood through the interconnected relationship between the nuclear issue and the Strait of Hormuz — a linkage whose simultaneous preservation, beyond safeguarding national interests and security, can also strengthen Iran’s global role and influence.
Nournews