Iran threatens to close Bab el-Mandeb strait following US strikes
Escalating military exchanges between Washington and Tehran have prompted threats to seal the Red Sea gateway, deepening global supply disruptions and pushing oil prices to their highest levels since June.
Iran has threatened to shut the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea, a major global shipping route, in response to renewed US naval blockades and military strikes. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned it would close all export corridors benefiting the US and its allies after Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz. The escalation follows US strikes on Iranian coastal areas and military targets, which Iran claims killed civilians and soldiers. Houthi forces, aligned with Iran, have also threatened to close the Bab el-Mandeb strait if Saudi Arabia continues attacks on Yemen. Oil prices rose as supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz deepened.
The warning came as the US launched a fresh round of strikes on Iranian military infrastructure, a move Washington described as necessary to degrade capabilities used to attack commercial shipping. The United States stated that Iran had attacked seven commercial ships over the preceding week, resulting in casualties among crew members. In retaliation, the US military targeted dozens of sites near the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian coastal areas in an operation lasting seven hours, according to US Central Command.
Iran’s government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani reported that at least 30 civilians had been killed in recent US strikes on southern Iran. The Iranian army confirmed that at least seven active-duty and conscript personnel were killed in overnight US strikes on the Bampur military base in the country’s southeast. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stated that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed until what it described as the end of American hostility.
In a significant escalation, the IRGC claimed to have targeted US Fifth Fleet facilities in Bahrain, a logistics facility in Kuwait’s Mina Abdullah, and a US base at Azraq in Jordan. Jordan’s air defence intercepted and shot down three ballistic missiles that entered its airspace from Iranian territory early on Wednesday. Kuwait’s state news agency reported that a fire at a targeted site was brought under control, though it was not immediately clear if this matched the IRGC’s claims.
The conflict has triggered a sharp rise in global energy costs, with Brent crude reaching its highest level since June 12 and West Texas Intermediate rising to its highest since June 15. A senior Houthi official warned that closing the Bab el-Mandeb strait could send oil prices soaring to $200 a barrel. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump threatened to hit Iranian power plants and bridges unless Tehran resumes negotiations, having previously scrapped an idea of a 20 per cent fee on shipping through the strait.
