Iran announced that the response to the “strategic mistake” of the United States, i.e. the escalation of military actions against Tehran, including potential attacks on the country's new leader Mojtaba Khamenei, may be closing another bottleneck enabling the transport of goods – the Bab al-Mandab Strait located between Yemen and the Horn of Africa.
See also: Experts warn against blocking the “Gate of Tears”. “Tehran holds the key in its hand”
Iran may block another strait
The Bab al-Mandab Strait, also known as the “Gate of Tears”, is a narrow and strategically important waterway that connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, forming – through the Suez Canal – a key maritime link between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean.
Iran's threats – as reported by “WSJ”, based on information from the semi-official Fars news agency – appeared after the Strait of Hormuz was practically closed due to the ongoing war. The Iranian military has threatened that it will not allow “a single liter of oil” to pass through the waterway to ships linked to the US, Israel or their broadly understood allies, and will treat their tankers as legal targets for attack. As of Friday, at least 13 ships in the Persian Gulf had been hit by Iranian missiles.
See also: An expert warns against the threat in the Strait of Hormuz
From the first days of the conflict, the Bab al-Mandab Strait has been considered by analysts to be the second potential point on which Tehran can exert pressure through its Houthi allies in Yemen.
Iran's semi-official Fars news agency warned against such a scenario on Thursday, reporting that the Houthis, who have not supported Iran in any way so far, are already prepared for this one key action. Also on Thursday, the leader of Yemen's militias, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, confirmed this in a veiled way, saying in a televised speech that “attacks on Iran are a war against Islam and Muslims.” He added that the group is “ready for all events in this battle.”
More than 20,000 rivers flow through Bab al-Mandab every year. ships that carry an average of almost 1.6 billion tons of cargo, including 6.2 million barrels of crude oil and refined petroleum products. This amounts to approximately 9%. entire maritime oil trade.
