Iran Threatens to Block Red Sea Gateway After Hormuz… Warns of Bab el-Mandeb Closure

Iran has threatened that it could block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the gateway to the Red Sea, following the Strait of Hormuz.

According to CNN on the 25th (local time), an Iranian military source said via the semi-official Tasnim News Agency, “If the enemy inflicts damage through ground or maritime operations on Iran’s islands or territory, we will open another front with a surprise strike.”

The source directly referenced the Bab el-Mandeb Strait between Yemen and Djibouti, claiming, “If tensions escalate, we have both the capability and the will to create threats in that area.”

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a chokepoint on the Suez Canal route through which more than 10% of seaborne crude oil volumes pass. If the strait—another strategic point on the sea lanes bound for Europe, following the Strait of Hormuz, which carries 20% of global crude shipments—were to be blocked as well, the international energy market would likely face an additional hit.

However, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait lies thousands of km from Iran’s borders and is unrelated to Iranian territory. Iran is assessed to exert indirect influence through Yemen’s pro-Iran armed group, the Houthi rebels. The Houthis have already attacked vessels in the Red Sea.

If Iran were to actually blockade both straits simultaneously, military clashes could escalate into an all-out war.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, speaker of Iran’s parliament, warned on social media (SNS) that “we have obtained information that hostile forces, backed by a country in the region, are trying to occupy Iran’s islands,” adding that “if any action is taken, we will strike that country’s core infrastructure continuously and without mercy.”

Yonghyun Shin, Hankyung.com reporter yonghyun@hankyung.com