A visual guide to Iran's coastline and strategic islands Stretching some 1,800km (1,120 miles), Iran's southern coastline forms a vast maritime corridor from the marshy Iraqi delta in the west to Pakistan's rugged terrain in the east. At its centre lies the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow chokepoint through which 20 percent of global oil and gas flows. Scattered along this coastline are several islands that host military outposts, energy hubs, and geopolitical leverage points within what analysts describe as Iran's "strategic architecture" of control.