Iran threatens to close the Strait of Hormuz, global oil prices will be affected
Fox Business’s Lauren Simonetti details rising tensions in the Strait of Hormuz as Iran threatens to block shipping lanes and impose new conditions. The move follows reports of attacks on ships by Iranian drones since March. Crude oil prices fell 2% as uncertainty over the vital waterway hit global markets.
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Iran has reportedly instructed Yemen’s Houthi militants to be prepared to close a vital Red Sea gateway if the United States attacks Iranian power infrastructure, Reuters reported, a threat experts warn could disrupt global shipping even if the group cannot completely seal the waterway.
“This threat should be taken seriously,” Nadwa al-Dawsari of the Middle East Institute told Fox News Digital. “With the recent rise in tensions and US attacks on Iran, Tehran has already signaled that Bab al-Mandab could become part of its response.”
Three sources told Reuters on Thursday that Iran’s leadership had discussed using the Houthis to close the Bab al-Mandeb strait and had recently conveyed the request to the group. A source close to the Houthis said missiles and drones had been deployed near the waterway and the group was waiting for orders to launch attacks on shipping.
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A Houthi follower during a pro-Iran demonstration in Sanaa, Yemen, on April 6, 2026. (Khalid Abdullah/Reuters)
Edmund Fitton-Brown, former British ambassador to Yemen and senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, warned in a recent Fox News Digital report that a full resumption of the Houthi maritime campaign could trigger wider fighting.
“It would be interesting if the Houthis came forward in full force and resumed their campaign against Red Sea shipping with full intensity,” Fitton-Brown said. “This would cause international anger and could result in Israeli and US attacks on Sanaa and Hodeida.”
“If this happens, general tensions are likely to increase, even if there is a clear military advantage for the allies,” he said.
Al-Dawsari said the Houthis have continued to develop the weapons needed to threaten the narrow shipping corridor, despite largely refraining from maritime attacks over the past year.
“The Houthis have largely refrained from attacking shipping for nearly a year, but they have continued to advance their maritime capabilities, including missiles, drones and sea mines,” he said. “They may not be able to close the strait completely, but they could significantly disrupt shipping and increase costs and risks to commercial traffic.”
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This photo released by the Houthi Media Center shows Houthi forces boarding the cargo ship Galaxy Leader on November 19, 2023. (Houthi Media Center via AP)
But the group would not need to physically control the waterway. Its previous missile and drone campaign demonstrated that repeated attacks – or even a credible threat of them – could force major shipping companies to reroute ships around Africa, increasing insurance, fuel and freight costs.
Bab el-Mandeb connects the Gulf of Aden to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, making it one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints. The consequences of new attacks would be particularly severe because Iran has already disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, historically a key route for about a fifth of global energy supplies.
As a result a large volume of Gulf oil has been redirected via Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. Reuters reported that the Bab al-Mandeb route now supplies about 7% of global energy and Saudi Arabia transits about 70% of its energy exports through Yanbu.
The reported directives also raise new questions about how much control Tehran exercises over key Houthi military decisions.
In this image provided by the U.S. Navy, the amphibious dock landing ship USS Carter Hall and the amphibious assault ship USS Bataan transit the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Aug. 9, 2023. (Mass Communications SPC 2nd Class Moises Sandoval/US Navy via AP)
“Any decision to advance into Bab al-Mandab will be strategic and linked more to the interests of Iran and the axis of resistance than solely to Houthi interests,” al-Dawsari said. “Decisions of this magnitude are probably coordinated through the Axis’ joint operations room under IRGC oversight.”
A source close to the Houthis claimed that representatives of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Yemen would control the timing of any move against the strait, Reuters reported.
The latest warning follows earlier Houthi threats against maritime traffic. In a June 12 report, Fox News Digital reported that the group had announced a blanket embargo on Israeli-owned vessels in the Red Sea and declared them “legitimate targets”.
Expert warns there will be ‘generic escalation’ in fighting if Houthis resume Red Sea campaign
In this handout photo dated July 12, 2026, a satellite imagery shows the Bab el Mandeb Strait, a major shipping waterway and gateway to the Red Sea. (NASA Worldview/Handout via Reuters)
A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital at the time that the actions of Iran and the Houthis were “unacceptable” and “dangerous”, warning that they could escalate regional tensions and further disrupt global supply chains.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has “repeatedly condemned” Houthi attacks against ships in the Red Sea and called on all sides on Thursday to refrain from further escalation, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric told Fox News Digital.
“Any disruption or attack would jeopardize the safety of seafarers, freedom of navigation and the stability of global supply chains and have a negative impact on the economic and humanitarian situation in Yemen and beyond,” Dujarric said. “The Secretary-General emphasizes that UN Security Council resolution 2722 (2024) must be fully respected,” he said, referring to the resolution condemning at least two dozen Houthi attacks on commercial ships since November 2023 and demanding an immediate end to the attacks.
The emerging threat has also drawn renewed scrutiny of the Iranian weapons network that helped build the Houthis’ missile and drone arsenal.
Amr al-Bidh, head of foreign affairs for the Southern Arab Transitional Council, said the alleged threat also highlighted broader failures in Yemen’s handling of the security crisis. He said, “The fact that individuals convicted of smuggling Iranian arms to the Houthis and leading terrorist operations are now being released under a UN-brokered agreement only underlines how poorly the Yemen crisis is being managed.”
In a July 15 letter obtained by Fox News Digital, the Southern Arab Transitional Council formerly known as the Southern Transitional Council, a southern Yemeni separatist movement that seeks greater autonomy or independence for the region of former South Yemen, warned UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg that a UN-facilitated detainee agreement could include people the council says are being held by the Houthis. Was convicted of assisting in Iranian arms transfers.
In this handout photo released Jan. 12, 2024, a missile is launched from a warship during a U.S.-led coalition campaign against military targets in Yemen, aimed at the Iran-backed Houthi militia who have been targeting international shipping in the Red Sea. (US Central Command X/handout via Reuters/file photo)
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The annex identifies individuals who the Council alleges were members of a cell that smuggled drones, aviation fuel and heavy and medium weapons from Iran to Sanaa.
The office of the UN Special Envoy for Yemen said it received the letter only after the agreement was signed and stressed that it does not determine which detainees are released.
“We received the letter after the agreement was signed,” spokeswoman Ismini Palla told Fox News Digital. “The United Nations – as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – does not decide who should be released and who remains in detention. Our role is limited to mediating negotiations and the ICRC leads the implementation of the release campaign.”
Palla said that “the names of those released have been proposed and agreed between the parties under the framework of the Stockholm Agreement on the Exchange of Prisoners of 2018.”
Fox News Digital contacted the State Department and the Iranian mission to the United Nations on the latest developments.
Paul Tilsley of Fox News and Reuters contributed to this report.
