Muhammadiyah Condemns Pressure from 22 Countries on Iran, Highlights Root Causes of the Strait of Hormuz Issue
A total of 22 countries have expressed their “readiness” to promote security for shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. They consist of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, Denmark, Latvia, Slovenia, Estonia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Lithuania, and Australia.
The coalition, mostly comprising member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), has strongly condemned the de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz carried out by Iran. Tehran took this action as retaliation following attacks on its territory by the Israel-United States (US) alliance since the end of February 2026.
Social-economic observer and Chairman of the Central Executive Board (PP) of Muhammadiyah, Buya Anwar Abbas, assesses that the threats from this 22-country coalition will not intimidate Iran. Moreover, these dozens of countries have long been strongly indicated as US allies.
“If they are honest and truly wish to resolve the issue justly, they must seek the primary source of why Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz,” said the Deputy General Chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) to Republika on Wednesday (25/3/2026).
The problem is that nearly all the missiles launched by Israel-US towards Iran originate from US military bases scattered across its neighbouring Arab countries, such as Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and the UAE.
Buya Anwar emphasised that the 22-country coalition should first urge the US to close its military bases used to attack Iran. Because what Iran has done is merely retaliation, not a pre-emptive strike like that carried out by Israel-US.
“If these 20-odd countries want the Strait of Hormuz to be opened, they must also dare to urge and threaten the US to close its military bases in those Gulf countries. If not, Iran will certainly not sit idly by and will continue to blockade the Strait of Hormuz,” said this academic from UIN Syarif Hidayatullah.