Tensions are rising across the Persian Gulf region after a senior Iranian academic and policy figure, Mohammad Marandi, issued a stark warning to South Korea: any participation in the US-led campaign against Iran will brand Seoul as an enemy of Tehran, and open South Korean commercial and military assets across the Middle East to retaliatory strikes.
Marandi made the comments during an appearance on Al Mayadeen’s current affairs program *The Grand Standoff*, focusing specifically on ongoing discussions in Seoul about joining international efforts to assert freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint that carries a huge share of the world’s daily energy shipments. He emphasized that Iranian retaliation would not be limited to military targets alone, extending to all South Korean assets located in neighboring Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar.
“If the South Koreans participate in this war against Iran, Iran will see it as the enemy,” Marandi stated. “Tehran would seek to destroy whatever assets South Korea has in this region. The Koreans are very vulnerable to Iran, and Iran can hurt them very badly.”
Marandi downplayed the military impact of any potential South Korean deployment, dismissing Seoul’s contribution as strategically irrelevant to the broader standoff. “What is a ship or two from South Korea going to do? It’s foolish,” he said. Even so, he stressed that any level of participation would carry severe consequences, noting that economic assets across the region would be just as vulnerable as military installations to Iranian action.
The warning comes as South Korea’s government weighs multiple options for a potential military contribution to the Strait of Hormuz initiative, with no final decision reached as of yet, according to Seoul’s presidential office. Officials confirmed that broad discussions have been held across a range of possible roles, from frontline combat participation to non-combat support and search operations, but no commitment has been finalized. “Please be advised that nothing has been decided yet concerning actual contributions,” the presidential office said in a statement reported by Al Jazeera.
Local South Korean media and international outlets have outlined the deployments under consideration, including a P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft, a naval logistics support vessel, and a navy explosive ordnance disposal team. Any deployment of military personnel requires a multi-layer approval process in South Korea: review by the National Security Council, cabinet approval, and a final vote in the National Assembly. This requirement was reaffirmed by South Korea’s defense minister in 2019, when the government expanded an existing anti-piracy deployment from Somalia to waters near the strait, with any substantial change to the mission requiring parliamentary consent.
South Korea finds itself caught between mounting pressure from Washington and its own heavy economic dependence on the Strait of Hormuz. US President Donald Trump has publicly criticized Seoul for failing to back the US campaign against Iran, linking the disagreement to broader frictions in the US-South Korea alliance. For South Korea, the strait is a critical energy lifeline: in 2023 (the most recent full year of data at the time of the report), 61 percent of the country’s crude oil imports and 54 percent of its naphtha imports passed through the waterway, leaving the nation with significant economic exposure to any escalation of tensions in the region.