New: Iran Now Calling on Houthis to Block Red Sea Gateway

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is a narrow spot in the sea passage from the Red Sea into the Gulf of Aden. The Strait is located between Yemen to the east and Djibouti and Eritrea to the west, and it's a considerable choke point, being at its narrowest point only 16 miles across. This is one of two possible exits from the Red Sea, the other being the Suez Canal, controlled by Egypt.

Now, new reports indicate that what's left of Iran is urging its Houthi proxies in Yemen to prepare to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Iran has reportedly instructed Yemen’s Houthi terrorists to prepare to close a critical Red Sea gateway if the United States attacks Iranian power infrastructure, Reuters reported, a threat experts warn could sharply disrupt global shipping even if the group cannot completely seal the waterway.
"This threat should be taken seriously," Nadwa Al-Dawsari of the Middle East Institute told Fox News Digital. "With recent escalation and U.S. strikes on Iran, Tehran has already signaled that the Bab al-Mandab could become part of its response."
Three sources told Reuters on Thursday that Iran’s leadership had discussed using the Houthis to shut the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and recently conveyed the request to the group. A source close to the Houthis said missiles and drones had been deployed near the waterway and that the group was awaiting an order to begin attacking shipping.

The implications here are serious: This would represent a significant broadening of the current conflict, possibly drawing in Saudi Arabia and even possibly Egypt, as both countries share Red Sea frontage.

Iran Finds Out It's a Bad Idea to Challenge US Blockade, While Trump Drops a Big Message to the IRGC

At least one expert on the regime is warning of just such a possibility:

Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former British ambassador to Yemen and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, warned in a recent Fox News Digital report that a full resumption of the Houthi maritime campaign could trigger wider fighting.
"It will be interesting if the Houthis do go all in, and resume their campaign against Red Sea shipping with full intensity," Fitton-Brown said. "This will draw international anger and likely result in Israeli and U.S. strikes on Sana’a and Hodeida."
"There is potential for a general escalation if this happens, albeit one in which the allies have a clear military advantage," he added.

That's correct, although we might substitute "overwhelming military advantage" for "clear military advantage." For some time now, the Houthi rebels in Yemen have been making a nuisance of themselves, but they haven't drawn a fraction of the response an act like this would surely draw. Iran is still in the process of learning what the United States is capable of when the gloves come all the way off, and the Houthis have to be watching this as well.

Furthermore, this could bring more Saudi Arabian attention to the conflict. Saudi Arabia sends a lot of petroleum through the Strait, mostly bound for ports in Asia. Over the last few years, Saudi shipping through this bottleneck has been between three and seven million barrels per day (b/d), and on this route, the shipping bypasses the Strait of Hormuz. Egypt is involved as well, as up to 80 percent of its natural gas imports come into the Red Sea through Bab el-Mandeb.

This may be too big a bite for the Houthis to comfortably chew, especially if the Saudis and Egypt get involved. In the short term, this could result in another spike in global petroleum prices, but in the long term, it would result in the Houthis being subjected to some of what Iran has been receiving, and that's a shellacking that the rebels would likely not survive.

Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.

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