Dubai: In defiance of international pressure and growing condemnation from Gulf states, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has declared that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer merely a narrow maritime passage but part of a vastly expanded “strategic operational zone” stretching hundreds of kilometres across the Gulf. The comments came as tensions deepened over Iran’s continued restrictions in the vital waterway and Kuwait revealed it had foiled an alleged infiltration attempt by four members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). According to Iran’s Tasnim news agency, quoted by Al Jazeera, Mohammad Akbarzadeh, deputy political chief of the IRGC Navy, said Tehran’s military view of the Strait of Hormuz had fundamentally changed. “The Strait of Hormuz was considered a limited area around islands like Hormuz when defined, but today this perspective has changed,” Akbarzadeh said. What is IRGC?…