Bandar Abbas residents struggle on Iran war frontline

Residents of Bandar Abbas, Iran’s southern trade hub on the Strait of Hormuz, are struggling to revive livelihoods after months of fighting in the war with the United States.

The port city of about half a million people has been exposed to fighting even after an April 8 ceasefire brought relief elsewhere in Iran. A lull in hostilities in July has not ended the strain on households, traders and fishermen.

Saeed Tajik, 42, said he lost his shipyard job and now drives a taxi. “The prices of housing and food have become extremely high. Almost all the basics -- rice, yoghurt, and oil -- have doubled,” he said.

Fuel shortages have long been common in southern Iran, where authorities restrict supplies to curb fuel smuggling. Tajik said queues had become longer and drivers sometimes waited only to be told there was no fuel.

The Strait of Hormuz has become a central flashpoint after an April ceasefire and a June framework deal failed to resolve disagreements between Washington and Tehran over management of the waterway.

US strikes hit bridges, highways and railway infrastructure around Bandar Abbas until mid-July. Analysts saw the strikes as attempts to cut off the city and disrupt Iranian military logistics in southern Iran.

The city’s airport, which was repeatedly hit, remained largely closed until August 15. Outside Bandar Abbas, crews were still repairing the Gachin bridge, which was split by a US strike.

Along the waterfront, wooden trading vessels known as lenjes were moored beside fishing and commercial boats. Arash Tondro, 45, said he used his lenj to carry Iranian fruit to the United Arab Emirates and return with household goods and other imports.

“My income dropped to zero at the beginning of the war,” Tondro said. He said he later rerouted some trade through Oman’s Khasab port as regional seaways were disrupted.

After the UAE suspended trade with Iran on Tuesday following Abu Dhabi’s accusation of an Iranian missile attack, which Tehran denied, Tondro said he was again unsure how his work would be affected.

“People in the south mostly rely on trade or fishing. If you take the sea and trade away from them, there is practically nothing left,” he said.

Fish seller Anoush Mallah, 22, said soaring rents had forced him to close his shop and move onto the street. “Business has been terrible since the war started. There are no sales, it’s very weak,” he said.

Many fishermen around Bandar Abbas only began returning to sea in recent weeks after months ashore for fear of being caught in US-Iran fighting. Diplomatic efforts have so far failed to end the war.