Drawing to an Inside Strait

The Bab Al-Mandeb Strait It appears that Iran is now openly coordinating with the Houthis in Yemen in closing off the Bab Al-Mandeb Strait, which is the path to and from the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.

This was also foreseeable before the shooting started.

An Iranian official threatened the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a narrow waterway dividing Yemen from Africa and providing a critical trading route from the Red Sea, if the U.S. “dares to repeat its foolish mistakes,” threatening further disruptions to global trade. 

Key Facts

• In an English language post on X, Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, said the U.S. opposition “views Bab al-Mandeb as it does Hormuz”—the key oil-transport route Iran has effectively closed to maritime traffic as the war with the U.S. and Israel drags on.
• Although Iran does not border the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, Yemen does, and Iran is closely allied with the Houthis, the Yemeni militant group that previously conducted dozens of strikes against Israel-linked vessels in the Red Sea in 2023 and 2024 in response to the war in Gaza.
• The Houthis began launching missiles at military targets in Israel in late March.
• The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused global oil prices to skyrocket and has pushed average gasoline prices in the U.S. above $4 per gallon, according to GasBuddy data.
• The statement came hours after President Donald Trump again threatened Iran’s power plants and bridges over Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

The willingness of the Houthis to support Iran in this war is not a surprise.  They have been close allies for decades, and Iran has shown repeatedly that they can be trusted by them.

In contrast, the United States has not been a trustworthy ally for decades, which is why our Nato allies are profoundly disinterested in forcing the Strait of Hormuz.