Iran has ordered the Houthi terrorist group to close the Strategic Red Sea Strait of Bab el-Mandeb if the U.S. intensifies its military strikes in the wake of Iranian aggression, reports say. “Iran has asked Yemen’s Houthi movement to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure,” Reuters reported, citing anonymous sources.
Bab el-Mandeb is a major maritime chokepoint that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea. Highlighting the strategic importance of the strait, the news agency added that a “significant amount of Gulf oil has since been diverted to the Red Sea through a Saudi pipeline, and the waterway now carries around 7% of global energy supplies.”
The new threat emerges after President Donald Trump, on Monday, ordered U.S. Central Command to take control of the Strait of Hormuz and reinstate its naval blockade against Iran. U.S. strikes are aimed at degrading Iran’s capabilities to threaten commercial shipping in the waterway, CENTCOM says.
Reuters reports exclusively:
Iran has asked Yemen’s Houthi movement to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure, three sources told Reuters on Thursday, posing a potent new threat to global energy supplies.The idea has been discussed within the Islamic Republic’s leadership, and the message has been conveyed to Iran’s Houthi allies, two senior Iranian sources and a regional source familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity. (…)A source close to the Houthis said the group had completed preparations to attack shipping by deploying missiles and drones near Bab el-Mandeb strait, the gateway to the Red Sea, in Yemen’s highlands overlooking Hodeidah and the Gulf of Aden and was awaiting the order to begin. (…)Representatives of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who are already in Yemen will control the decision on when to close the Bab el-Mandeb strait, said the source close to the Houthis.
Iran may be threatening to close the Red Sea Strait to deter the U.S. from intensifying its military operation. “Next week it gets really bad for them,” Trump told Fox News. “We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.”
On Wednesday night, the U.S. carried out another wave of strikes against Iran. “U.S. forces struck Iranian command centers, air defense sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities to further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten innocent mariners crewing commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
As the CENTCOM-led operation entered its sixth consecutive day, the U.S. military struck Tehran for the first time, signaling a widening of the conflict. Sky News (UK) noted that “US attacks have expanded into the northern regions of Iran this morning, hitting areas around the capital Tehran.”
According to Iranian state media on Thursday afternoon, the U.S also struck on the strategically located island of Qeshm in the Strait of Hormuz. The island, key to Iran’s control over the strait, was struck on Sunday as well. The London-based Guardian reported:
Iranian news agencies have reported that the United States has launched strikes around Iran’s Gulf island of Qeshm near the strait of Hormuz, as renewed hostilities flared between Washington and Tehran.Fars news agency reported an “American missile strike in the vicinity of Qeshm”, citing local authorities, while Tasnim news agency said one of its correspondents reported locations around Qeshm “were struck by projectiles from the American enemy”.
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