Iran tells Houthis to prepare Red Sea blockade amid US strike fears

2026-07-16

Iran orders blockade preparations

Iran has instructed Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group to prepare to block the Red Sea in case the United States attacks Iran's power infrastructure, Reuters reported on the 16th. The move appears aimed at rattling US President Donald Trump, who has said he would destroy power plants and other facilities if Iran does not engage in dialogue.

Strategic Bab el-Mandeb

Iran has previously used the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, at the mouth of the Red Sea, as a bargaining chip. It is one of the Middle East's chokepoints alongside the Strait of Hormuz, and the Houthis are based in northern Yemen. The strait is only about 30 kilometers wide, roughly the same as the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Revolutionary Guard declared on the 12th that it would reimpose the blockade of the strait, and US Central Command said on the 14th, US Eastern time, that it had resumed a maritime blockade that hinders the passage of vessels entering and leaving Iranian ports.

Impact on supply chains

Crude oil prices have recently turned higher, and Trump, who is sensitive to gasoline prices, has grown more frustrated. If transit through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a diversion route from the Strait of Hormuz, is halted, oil supplies will be further disrupted. According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), oil shipments through the strait rose to 5.4 million barrels per day in January to March, about 1.5 times the level a year earlier. Its share of total global supply also increased from 4% to 6%. Shipping time to Asia is around 20 to 25 days, roughly the same as the about 20 days via the Strait of Hormuz.

If both the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait become impassable, ships would have to travel from the Red Sea through the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean, then around Africa's southern tip at the Cape of Good Hope. This route takes about 50 days and adds to fuel and insurance costs.

Houthi military activity

Reuters, citing a source close to the Houthis, said they had completed preparations for attacks on vessels. The timing of the blockade is being led by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard deployed in Yemen. Missiles and drones have been positioned on high ground overlooking the area near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden off Yemen, and they are waiting for orders to attack. In late March, the Houthis said they had attacked an Israeli military facility with a ballistic missile and entered the series of military clashes between the United States and Iran on the Iranian side. In June, they issued a statement saying they would fully ban Israeli vessels from transiting the Red Sea.

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