Description
STRAIT OF HORMUZ 2026 THE SOUTHERN ROUTE
DATE
3 September 2026, 0100Z
DURATION
24 hours
COMPLEXITY
Medium
DIFFICULTY
Medium
PLAY AS
United States or Iran
MODE
Single player, either side · Head-to-head PBEM via IKE (prompts go to the side whose turn is running)
FORCES
5 sides, 154 units
STRATEGIC SITUATION
Six months after Operation Epic Fury began and two months after the April ceasefire broke down, the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed. Commercial traffic has collapsed. The United States is blockading Iranian ports and escorting convoys along a southern route that hugs Omani water. On 30 August US forces destroyed two IRGC mine-rocket launchers on Larak Island. Tehran answered with missiles and drones on US bases in Jordan. On Qeshm, the launchers that survived are being loaded again.
MISSION
Convoy SOUTHERN ROUTE 12, four laden tankers including a Qatari LNG carrier, is staged off Ras al-Khaimah. The United States must get it through to the Gulf of Oman. Iran must stop it with what the spring left: surviving fast attack craft, unmanned boats, one submarine, rebuilt coastal batteries, and rockets that carry sea mines.
THE FULCRUM
USS Canberra and USS Santa Barbara are the only mine-countermeasure ships in theatre. A 57mm gun and a point-defence launcher between them, no area air defence, no anti-ship missile. They are also the only instrument that can reopen a mined channel, and the IRGC knows it. Everything the Americans bring exists to keep two fragile hulls working long enough. Everything Iran has left exists to stop them.
WHAT MAKES THIS SCENARIO DIFFERENT
★ The scenario asks you questions. At each turning point a briefing window opens with the situation and a photograph, then a choice. The clock stops while you decide and resumes when you click. You can also answer in advance from Lua or hand your prompts to the AI (Special Actions > PROMPTS).
★ Decisions on both sides. Play the Americans or the Sepah. The AI takes the other seat and makes its own calls.
★ Escalation is a ledger you can watch move. At three the UN convenes. At five Muscat withdraws consent for the southern route and your transit scoring halves. At seven the GCC demands a halt and the Houthis close the Bab el-Mandeb.
★ Mine warfare decides the waterway, not missile exchanges.
★ Two chokepoints, one fleet. Somali action groups work the Gulf of Aden while your attention is on Hormuz.
★ Restraint is scored. Each side holds an action that wins the fight and loses the scenario.
VICTORY
United States: clear the barrier, complete a transit, keep the minehunters alive, and do it without hitting the carrier, a Gulf host, or a civil airliner. The last of those ends the scenario outright.
Iran: keep the strait closed at the end with the fleet substantially intact and the nuclear sites untouched. Sinking the carrier is not a victory condition. It is the beginning of a different war.
The Strait is narrow. The margin for error is narrower-err.
Order of battle, positions and background events reflect reporting current to 1 September 2026.
Every unit and aircraft loadout validated against DB3000 v515.
Playtested end to end. Originally designed as a demonstratable simulation for outcome and analysis.
Imagery: US Department of Defense, public domain.
Download the Scenario: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1p-rs8b ... sp=sharing