Iran threatens to block more vital seaways as Trump orders renewed Iran blockade
Iran has threatened to block global shipping routes, including the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, following a renewed U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports. This escalation involves Houthi forces in Yemen and risks significant disruption to global energy supplies.
Why it matters
The potential closure of vital maritime chokepoints could trigger a massive spike in global oil prices and exacerbate geopolitical instability in the Middle East.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened to close “all other export corridors that benefit the U.S. and its allies”, Iranian media reported, after Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. 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 (July 15, 2026).
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.
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