Iran vowed Tuesday that a massive US attack will prompt its ally the Houthis to further try to strangle the flow of oil and goods through the region by closing the key Bab el-Mandeb strait.
A senior Iranian official said Tehran would tap the Houthis to take control of the strait off the coast of Yemen — a move that would hinder traffic through the Red Sea, where $1 trillion worth of goods pass through each year.
“If the situation gets out of control, [Tehran’s) allies will also close Bab el-Mandeb waterway,” the official told Reuters.
As with the Strait of Hormuz currently shut down by Iran, the closure of the Bab el-Mandeb passage, which links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, would disrupt global trade and cause oil and gas prices to further surge.
Tehran issued an initial warning over the strait last month after reports emerged that US ground troops were preparing to seize Kharg Island, a small piece of land located 16 miles off the Iranian coast that controls 90% of the Islamic republic’s crude oil exports.
The US unleashed a series of strikes on the island Tuesday, shortly after Trump issued a chilling declaration that “a whole civilization will die tonight.”
Iran rebuked the president’s remarks and warned that the escalation would further engulf the Middle East in war, with Tehran ready to retaliate by choking the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The Houthi rebel group has warned it would assist in taking the 20-mile wide strait should the Iranian regime need help during its war with the US and Israel
The Iran proxy terror group has previously shown its ability to threaten the passageway during the war in Gaza, where the Houthis have waged more than two years of attacks on Israeli-linked vessels traveling through the passage.
Attacks along the strait would further risk shipments coming out of Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest exporter of oil, which has been redirecting its barrels through the Red Sea following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Bent crude oil has remained around $110 a barrel, with the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate surging to $116 per barrel Tuesday afternoon.
