CAIRO: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened to close “all other export corridors that benefit the US and its allies”, Iranian media reported, after Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz and the US reimposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
“Regional energy exports are either shared by all, or denied to all,” the IRGC said in a statement carried by Iran’s IRNA state news agency on Wednesday.
Analysts have said Iran has been signalling it may use its Houthi allies in Yemen to shut the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea, opening a new front against Washington and putting two of the world’s most vital energy arteries at risk.
The narrow gateway links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, through which Saudi oil exports and a substantial share of global shipping pass.
A senior Houthi official warned on Monday that the group was prepared to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — a move he said could send oil prices soaring to US$200 a barrel — if Saudi Arabia continued to attack Yemen, according to a report on Iran’s Press TV website.
Houthi forces fired missiles at Saudi Arabia after accusing the kingdom of bombing an airport under their control on Monday, breaking a four-year truce in the conflict between the kingdom and the Iran-aligned group.
The Houthis have already shown they can choke global commerce through the Bab el-Mandeb.
After the Gaza war erupted in October 2023, the Iran-backed group launched attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, saying it was targeting vessels linked to Israel in support of Palestinians.
The latest threat to global shipping comes a day after the US military said it began a fresh round of strikes “to continue degrading Iranian capabilities used to attack commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The United States said Iran had attacked seven commercial ships over the last week, leading to nearly a dozen crew members being killed, missing or injured.
The US military said late on Tuesday that it hit dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas.