The Iranian government continues to pressure the American government:
Having choked off shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Iran is now signaling it could play its most dangerous card yet: using their Yemeni proxy organization, the Houthis, 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.
As US strikes deepen inside Iran and Houthi attacks escalate in tandem, analysts say Tehran is widening the conflict and seeking to increase pressure on Washington by extending the threat to global trade and energy supplies beyond the Gulf. [The Jerusalem Post]
I’d not heard of this threat until now, and in fact Bab el-Mandeb didn’t ring a bell, an indictment of my geographical knowledge of the region. Could the Houthis close Bab el-Mandeb?
Here’s a map, but not properly labeled, so for your reference, the Strait of Hormuz is at the upper right on that point of land north of Dubai, and Bab el-Mandeb is at bottom center where Djibouti appears. I’d say it looks like a pincer movement on Saudi Arabia.
President Trump is learning that nastier bullies don’t blink, not when they think the Divine is on their side. And hate the guy who threatened to destroy their civilization.
