Iran's islands are in the spotlight.
While most of its roughly 400 islands are small and uninhabited, several of them are large and strategically important.
The most significant of these islands lie in the Gulf, across from Iran's neighbours in the Arabian peninsula, and in the Strait of Hormuz.
The latter waterway, which connects the Persian/Arabian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and onwards to the Indian Ocean, is a vital chokepoint through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas passes.
In response to the US-Israeli war, Iran has effectively closed the strait - and its islands have been key to such asymmetric warfare tactics.
