Iranian fishermen feel waves of tension from the US
Friction between the West and Iran threatens to rile the waters for fishermen near the Strait of Hormuz.
BANDAR ABBAS, Iran — As waves hit the coast of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran every evening, dozens of fishermen sit together and chat about their concerns and what they do all day. Their conversation isn’t just about fish, a fisherman named Farshad explains. It’s about working just a few kilometers from where war could take place.
“It’s not an easy job,” the 60-year-old tells Al-Monitor. While arranging his net he adds, “I have done this job for the last 45 years. My father and my elder brother both wanted me to work with them. I didn’t have many [jobs] to choose from, and I thought this was the safest. I might be right, but not always.”
Farshad witnessed the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq War, and the current tension in the Persian Gulf between the United States and Iran reminds him of those days.
“There’s nothing at the moment to fear. We do our fishing with our simple tools. Sometimes we go a bit far in the waters to the Strait of Hormuz. There’s nothing to be concerned about, but it’s there that you get to feel how much the tension could do. Every day I see dozens of big ships and hundreds of small ones passing,” he says.
