The fighting between Iran, Israel and the United States, and the continued clashes even after a ceasefire, have disrupted global trade and rattled oil markets. They have also upended life for Iranian civilians living on islands near the Strait of Hormuz, especially Qeshm, home to an estimated 150,000 people.
Ali, a hotel owner on Qeshm, told Bloomberg that the attacks left him nervous, but he still prefers the island to Tehran. He is among hundreds of Tehran residents who in recent years made Qeshm their second home. When U.S. President Donald Trump reimposed and tightened sanctions in 2018, many middle-class Iranians could no longer afford foreign holidays, which pushed them toward domestic resort towns and then to the island, where tourism had been growing quickly.
Qeshm is the largest Iranian island in the Persian Gulf and sits at the northeastern edge of Hormuz. Most islanders belong to Iran’s Sunni minority and rely on jobs tied to the strait, including fishing, shipping, informal trade and smuggling. Some conservative residents remain wary of tourism, but others welcomed it. One local, Mohammad, said, “It is important to create the right environment for tourism, it has to happen here.” He added that the strait was once a trade hub for spices, fabrics, pearls and even culture, and that the war has broken a centuries-old symbiosis with Gulf Arab communities in Dubai, Sharjah and Muscat.
Ali said his hotel was full for most of the last five years, including visits from urban Iranians and exiles, until the war broke out in February. Since then, he says his income has vanished, he sold his car to keep his home and hotel going, and now lives off savings. Many locals dependent on sea-based work or tourism have little to fall back on, and traders and smugglers have recently avoided sailing for fear of American fire.
The war also left deeper scars in the region. In Minab, about 40 minutes by ferry and road from Qeshm, a primary school was destroyed on the first day of the war, killing 120 children, one of the deadliest attacks in Iran’s history. Iranian authorities blamed U.S. forces, though Washington did not publicly acknowledge responsibility. The attack recalled the 1988 downing of Iran Air Flight 655 by a U.S. warship, when about 290 people were killed after the plane exploded over the water near Qeshm’s southern coast.
With a memorandum of understanding signed and the prospect of hostilities easing after nearly four months of war, Hormuz has gained a new global profile. Iranian officials and many locals now see the strait as strategically vital, and Iran and Oman say they will independently begin work on how shipping should be overseen there, despite broad Western opposition.
