Iran, Gibraltar and other enclaves of Hispanity

May 1, 2026

José María Manrique García

A persistent threat

At the end of December 2023, Iran, through the mouth of the brigadier general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IGRC) Mohammad Reza Naqdi, “Coordinator” of the real army, threatened to close the Strait of Gibraltar, as it was already doing at the time with the Red Sea, if “crimes in Gaza” persisted[i]. The CRGI, the ideological pillar of the revolutionary regime, is made up of more than 125,000 land, sea and aerospace soldiers, plus the Basij militia (90,000 regular soldiers and 300,000 volunteer reservists). He also insisted that “this is not just rhetoric, it is better to wait for the closure of the Mediterranean Sea, Gibraltar and other navigable waterways”. In this context, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on the Muslim world to prevent fuel and other supplies from reaching Israel, veiledly threatening Morocco, the great and continued traitor to the cause of the Muslim cause.

Today, Gaza casualties and Shiite martyrdom in Iran and other areas continue to grow.

And, on the other hand, a few days ago, Iran threatened to cut off trade in three seas (on April 16, 2026 in https://iran.ru/news [ii]). In addition to the Red and Persian-Omani Seas, were you thinking of the Mediterranean?

The Strait of Gibraltar is a vital maritime route for world trade, with an average of 300 ships a day. This represents approximately 20% of the world’s total maritime trade and 80% of the EU’s oil and gas imports. But, fundamentally, it would be the only sea route of access to Israel if the Red Sea is blocked, as will surely happen if the war between the Epstein Coalition (Israel + USA) against Iran continues.

A credible threat?

Maritime mining can be done from surface ships, war ships or camouflaged civilians, but also from submarines. Iran has several Kilo class with great possibilities for this. It could also be done by an ally of its own, and in North Africa it has Algeria and SADR.

Another possibility is from the air, and even space. A few days ago we saw the spectacle (American war propaganda?) of the spacewalk around the Moon and the splashdown of the small capsule with the astronauts. In addition to reminding the ill-thinking that no one has been able to set foot on our satellite since, supposedly, 1969, we have seen a controlled and smooth splashdown.

Could Iran use those techniques to do the mining?

It seems so, as it has an important space programme, with multiple satellites and injector rockets. But, in addition, it is increasingly clear that it has intermediate-range ballistic missiles capable of reaching the confines of Europe from the north of Europe. Between Tehran and Seville there are 3,800 km and it has been said that, supposedly, Iran attacked, at practically the same distance as the previous one, on the British island of Diego García, a base shared with the US. Something that Israel recognizes, although perhaps to frighten Europeans.

Among the vectors capable of this, it seems that it could have versions of its satellite injectors (SLVs), such as those derived from the:

–Simorgh (or Safir-2): 27 m long and two-stage liquid-fueled missile based on the engines of the Shahab-3 surface-to-surface missile (North Korean-influenced and 2,000 km range). Four successes in orbital flights between 2016 and 2024 to place satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO). It can count on a third stage based on a Saman-1 solid-fuel engine

-Zuljanah (or Zoljanah): a 26 m injector with three phases, the first solid and the last liquid. Launched in 2021 and 2022.

-Ghaem-100 (or Qaem-100): 15 to 20 m and three solid-fuel stages. From launcher truck. Three flight successes between 2022 and 2024 (placed a 60 kg communications satellite at an altitude of 750 km.

And also specific intermediate-range ballistic missiles (IRBMs: Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile, from 3000 to 5,500 km):

-Musudan (or Hwasong-10, BM-25, KN-07, Mirim and Nodong-B). 12 m and liquid fuel. With a combat warhead of 1,200 to 500 kg, for ranges between 2,500 and 4,000 km. US sources are certain that Iran has several of these Korean launchers, which use technology and equipment designed for the Soviet R-27 SLBM (SS-N-6 Serb, submarine-launchable).

-New versions of the Khorramshahr-4 (or Khaybar-Kheibar) with ranges of 4,000 km. The Khorramshahr-4 is derived from the Musudan and is a liquid-fueled single-stage, 2,000 km range, and Mach 14. It can be equipped with a variety of warheads, including a maneuverable re-entry vehicle, as well as two types of cluster munition warheads (76 or 8, depending on their size). A year ago there was already talk of the Khaybar-5[iii], with more than 10,000 km of range, a speed of 16 Mach and a warhead of up to two tons.

And cruise missiles/drones: such as the Shahed-149 Gaza, Shahed-136B variant, and the Fotros, superior to the Yankee MQ-1 Predator), both supposedly with up to 4,000 km of range (remember the Soumar cruise missile, based on the Soviet Raduga Kh-55, already reached 3,000 km).

Of course, the technological difficulty of dispersing mines from ballistic missiles is significant, mainly because of the problems of re-entry speed. And it is no small one that the designers of drones/RPVs with a range of 4,000 km have to overcome, but Iran, and its allies, have demonstrated their capabilities in fields that the US has not yet trodden on. But the threat posed by a few naval mines, drifting and/or anchored, is undoubtedly a problem to which the Iranians have devoted a lot of effort, who publicly acknowledge that they have already solved it in the case of their placement by 333 mm [iv]Fajr-5C multiple rocket launchers.

The mining (or rather the successive mines), logically, would be preceded and simultaneous with precision missile attacks on the British control centres on the Rock of the maritime surveillance and underwater listening systems (Cala Rosia). Another possibility is that the Moroccan naval bases (Alcázar Seguer) and anti-aircraft bases ( Hebrew Barak missiles) in the area would also be attacked, since the Sunni Alawi kingdom is a feudatory of Israel and the US, even collaborating militarily in Gaza and in the “20-day war”, and has already been threatened by Iran for this reason. The mining was planned by Spain in the Second World War, in the shallower area of the Strait, approximately between Tarifa and Tangier.

… And speaking of Gibraltar

The world, and especially Hispanidad, has to remember the deep meaning of Gibraltar, and other colonies, in the hands of the powers that try to impose their so-called “liberal” values with blood and fire.

Gibraltar is the only colony in Europe, just as the former Spanish Sahara is the only one in Africa. Both imposed by force against all international legality by Saxon and Israeli hands, fundamentally, but also with something more than the consent of the main members of NATO and the EU.

To these, we must also add those of Puerto Rico, Malvinas, Guantánamo, Guam, Marianas and a long list of territories that still retain their Hispanic origin in their name.

And curiously, for that USA of “America for the Americans” (of the North), which shamelessly wants to appropriate Greenland and Canada (both NATO), as well as Cuba and whatever proceeds to the North of the Equator, it is always forgotten that Guiana is just another province of France.

By the way, both Gibraltar and Guyana, the former English Guiana that includes the unredeemed Venezuelan Essequibo (and other tax havens) are among the 10 “countries” with the highest per capita income in the World (2025). [v]

But, let us be fair, it is the Spaniards who are largely to blame for the fact that Gibraltar, after Breixit, is considered just another part of the European Union [vi], from the Head of State to the last immigrant who has been graciously granted nationality. And that is applicable in many other nations.