The head of the shadowy Quds Force said Iran would move to block the Bab al‑Mandab Strait that links the Red Sea to the wider ocean.
An Iranian regime intelligence official has warned that Iran would attempt to block shipping traffic in another waterway if the Israeli military continues to launch strikes against Hezbollah or in Gaza. Esmail Qaani, the head of the Iranian Quds Force, an intelligence agency under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed that Iran would attempt to close the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which would echo Iran's move to effectively block traffic in the Strait of Hormuz since hostilities started.
The Bab al‑Mandab Strait is between Yemen and the Horn of Africa. It connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and is considered a critical shipping waterway. The Houthi terrorist group, based in Yemen, launched attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and in the Bab al-Mandab Strait starting in 2023, prompting a U.S. military response.
Qaani referred to fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist group backed by Iran, and said that fighting in Lebanon and Gaza will "trap" Israel in a "whirlpool of Hezbollah’s operations and a new storm of Palestinian fighters," according to a report by state-run PressTV published on June 2. Israeli actions in the region "would also prompt efforts to activate other fronts and to make the traffic situation in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait similar to that in the Strait of Hormuz," said state-run Tasnim News, paraphrasing Qaani. (Read More)
