Beneath Qeshm Island’s salt caves and emerald mangroves in the Strait of Hormuz lies an unexpected architecture: extensive subterranean military complexes, described by analysts as “underground missile cities.” Once chiefly known for surreal rock formations and tourism, the island is drawing international attention as it becomes a frontline stronghold in the widening US–Israel–Iran confrontation.
Qeshm, roughly 1,445 sq km (558 sq miles), sits at the mouth of the Gulf and can physically dominate the strait’s entrance, effectively acting as a cork on a critical energy transit route. That geography, together with its status as a free-trade and industrial zone since 1989, masks a dual identity: a place of ecological and cultural riches and a strategic platform for Iran’s asymmetric naval capabilities. US Marines and other forces assembling in the area underline how seriously outside powers view the island’s importance.
About 148,000 people live on Qeshm. Most are Sunni Muslims who speak the local Bandari dialect and whose livelihoods remain tied to the sea. Traditional observances such as Nowruz Sayyadi, the Fisherman’s New Year when fishing ceases to honor the ocean, continue amid growing insecurity. Civilian life was disrupted early in the recent fighting: on March 7, one week into open hostilities, US air strikes hit a desalination plant on Qeshm, cutting freshwater to some 30 nearby villages. Tehran denounced the strike as a “flagrant crime” against civilians. In retaliation, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it attacked US forces at Bahrain’s Juffair base, alleging the assault on Qeshm had been launched from a neighbouring Gulf state.
Strategically, Qeshm is often described as Iran’s “unsinkable aircraft carrier.” Lying about 22 km (14 miles) south of Bandar Abbas and controlling the Clarence (Kuran) Strait, the island serves as a primary platform for fast-attack boats, coastal batteries and other systems housed in underground networks. Exact numbers and layouts are classified, but their purpose is explicit: to control, and if ordered, to close the Strait of Hormuz.
Retired Lebanese Brigadier-General Hassan Jouni told Al Jazeera the island contains “striking Iranian capabilities” within an underground “missile city” designed to exert control over the waterway. Those capabilities have had immediate effects on shipping: Iran warned it would strike vessels attempting to pass, and commercial traffic was effectively halted, with only a few ships carrying vital oil and gas allowed through while nations negotiate safe passage. The administration of United States President Donald Trump moved to assemble a naval convoy of warships intended to force the route open.
Qeshm’s strategic role is layered onto a long human history. The island has been called many names: Arabic sources know it as Jazira‑al‑Ṭawila (“the Long Island”), Greek explorer Nearchus named it Oaracta, and by the ninth century it was recorded as Abarkawan, later folk-etymologized as Jazira‑ye Gavan or “Cow Island.” In 1301 Hormuz rulers moved their court here to escape Tartar attacks, and for centuries Qeshm supplied drinking water across the gulf, earning a reputation as the region’s “water barrel.”
The island’s riches invited repeated raids: in 1552 Ottoman commander Piri Reis attacked Qeshm, seizing what contemporary accounts called “the richest prize that could be found in all the world.” The Portuguese erected a stone fort in 1621 but were expelled a year later by a Persian-English force in a battle that cost British navigator William Baffin his life. In the 19th century the British maintained a naval base at Basidu (Bassadore) until 1863, and a coaling station remained until 1935 when Reza Shah Pahlavi requested its removal.
Despite the growing military footprint, Qeshm remains one of the Middle East’s ecological hotspots. The Hara mangrove forest is an essential breeding ground for migratory birds. Qeshm Geopark, inscribed as the region’s first UNESCO geopark in 2006, highlights the island’s geological significance. Notable formations include the Valley of Stars, a maze of canyons and pillars shaped by millennia of erosion and local legend; the Namakdan Salt Cave, one of the world’s longest salt caves at more than 6 km (3.7 miles) with ancient crystalline formations; and Chahkooh Canyon, a narrow limestone and salt gorge whose vertical walls form a natural stone cathedral.
The island also preserves ancient engineering: the Tala (Gold) Wells in Laft village number 366—the count of days in a leap year—were dug roughly 2,000 years ago. About 100 still function and historically supplied drinking water across Qeshm.
Today, salt caverns, shrines and mangrove forests coexist uneasily with hidden military infrastructure. Empires and navies from the Portuguese to the British have come and gone, but Qeshm’s geographic position remains decisive. As war reshapes life and navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, the island’s combined natural wealth and subterranean defenses keep it at the center of regional strategic calculations.