Iran Threatens to Shut Red Sea Corridor as US Strikes Escalate, Hormuz Stays Closed

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has threatened to close all export corridors benefiting the United States and its allies, raising the prospect of a simultaneous shutdown of two of the world's most critical energy chokepoints as fighting between Washington and Tehran intensifies.

"Regional energy exports are either shared by all, or denied to all," the IRGC said in a statement carried by Iran's state news agency IRNA on Wednesday, after Iran shut the Strait of Hormuz and the US reimposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports. The Guards added that the strait would remain closed until what they described as the end of America's evils.

Reuters reported that analysts said Iran has been signalling it may use its Houthi allies in Yemen to block the Bab el-Mandeb strait, the narrow gateway linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden through which Saudi oil exports and a large share of global shipping pass.

A senior Houthi official warned on Monday that the group was prepared to close the strait, a move he said could push oil prices to 200 dollars a barrel, if Saudi Arabia continued to strike Yemen. Houthi forces fired missiles at Saudi Arabia after accusing the kingdom of bombing an airport under their control, breaking a four-year truce between the two sides.

Strikes Widen

The US military said it struck dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz and along Iran's coastline in a wave of strikes lasting seven hours, saying Iran had attacked seven commercial ships over the past week, leaving nearly a dozen crew members killed, missing or injured. Iran said at least 30 civilians had been killed in recent days as a result of the US strikes on southern Iran, while seven military personnel died in overnight strikes on the Bampur military base in the country's southeast, according to Iran's army.

The IRGC said it had targeted US Fifth Fleet command and logistics facilities in Bahrain, struck a logistics site in Kuwait's Mina Abdullah and hit an airbase at Azraq in Jordan. Jordan's air defences intercepted and shot down three ballistic missiles fired from Iranian territory early on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump threatened on Tuesday to strike Iranian power plants and bridges unless Tehran returned to negotiations, saying he would save energy targets for last. He separately scrapped a proposal for a twenty per cent fee on Hormuz shipping after sharp criticism from the UN's maritime agency, saying he would instead pursue investment deals with Gulf states. Oil prices rose for a second consecutive session, with Brent and West Texas Intermediate both touching their highest levels since mid-June.