{"id":552810,"date":"2026-07-16T14:25:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T14:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/552810\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T14:25:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T14:25:10","slug":"iran-tells-houthis-to-close-second-crucial-sea-route-if-us-hits-power-network-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/552810\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran tells Houthis to close second crucial sea route if US hits power network \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Iran <\/a>has asked Yemen\u2019s Houthi <\/a>movement to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States<\/a> strikes Iranian power infrastructure, three sources have told the Reuters news agency, posing a \u200cpotent new threat to global energy supplies.<\/p>\n

The idea has been discussed within the Islamic Republic\u2019s leadership, and the message has been conveyed to Iran\u2019s Houthi allies, two senior Iranian sources and a regional source familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition \u200bof anonymity.<\/p>\n

The sources said the Houthis had been informed recently of Tehran\u2019s request, which has not been previously reported.<\/p>\n

They did not give further details on how it had been conveyed or whether it was after US<\/a> president Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> threat to attack Iranian power infrastructure on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s foreign ministry and a spokesperson for the Houthi group were not immediately available to respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n

\"AA Houthi supporter in Yemen brandishes a weapon during a protest. The Houthis have launched numerous drone and missile attacks targeting shipping vessels in the Red Sea. Photograph: EPA <\/p>\n

A source close to the Houthis said the group had \u200bcompleted preparations to attack shipping by deploying missiles and drones near Bab el-Mandeb strait, the gateway to the Red Sea, in Yemen\u2019s highlands overlooking Hodeidah and the Gulf of Aden and was awaiting the order to begin.<\/p>\n

Any threat to the Red Sea \u2060and its Bab el-Mandeb gateway risks hugely exacerbating the global energy crisis triggered by Iran\u2019s closure of the Strait of Hormuz<\/a> and underscores the explosive risks stemming from a new \u200cround \u200cof \u200bwarfare.<\/p>\n

With the Hormuz strait already shut, any Houthi attacks on vessels or ports in the Red Sea would leave the Middle East\u2019s two main oil export routes disrupted simultaneously, opening a new front in both the energy crisis and Iran\u2019s wider conflict with the United States.<\/p>\n

Representatives of Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard \u2060Corps (IRGC) who are already in Yemen will control the decision on when to \u200bclose the Bab el-Mandeb strait, said the source close to the Houthis.<\/p>\n

In a sign of escalating \u200btensions in the region, the Houthis fired missiles at Saudi Arabia after accusing the kingdom of bombing an airport under their control on Monday, breaking a four-year truce in the conflict between the kingdom and \u200cthe group.<\/p>\n

Torbjorn Solvedt, principal Middle East analyst with risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, \u200bsaid the flare-up between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia<\/a> had come at a bad time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf fighting intensifies and spills over into Red Sea export infrastructure and shipping, it will threaten the \u2060only major alternative route for oil exports from the region,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Two regional sources \u2060close to Riyadh said the kingdom was taking threats \u200bfrom Iran and the Houthis very seriously, adding that Riyadh was aware the Yemeni group was now closely co-ordinating with Iran over the Red Sea.<\/p>\n

The conflict began on February 28th, when Israel and the United States attacked Iran, leading Tehran to shut the Strait of Hormuz, the main route before the war for around a fifth of global energy supplies.<\/p>\n

Tensions have mounted since a fragile June truce between Tehran and Washington collapsed, reviving fears of full-scale war and disrupting energy flows through the Strait.<\/p>\n

\"BoysBoys play in the shallow waters of the Strait of Hormuz, as a plume of smoke rises from an explosion in the background. Photograph: Razieh Poudat\/AP <\/p>\n

The US launched a fifth night of attacks on Wednesday and reimposed a naval \u200bblockade of Iran\u2019s ports, which Washington says is aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, closed by Iran last Saturday after a fragile truce collapsed. After the first strikes on Wednesday night, Tehran\u2019s top negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf issued a statement saying: \u201cWe are in an essential and existential war with America\u201d. <\/p>\n

Iranian army spokesman brigadier general Mohammad Akraminia said on Thursday that the Strait of Hormuz, which carried \u200babout a fifth of global oil and gas shipments before the war, was a \u201cred line\u201d for Iran over which it maintains firm control. \u201cThe Americans thought that by attacking some of our bases on the southern \u2060coasts of the country, they could take control of this strategic strait,\u201d Akraminia said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the Islamic Republic of Iran has the ability to exert control \u200cover \u200cthe \u200bStrait of Hormuz from every single point of its territory, and this matter is never dependent on coasts and islands.\u201d <\/p>\n

Three US officials told Reuters that US strikes aimed at forcing open the strait are also targeting Iranian military capabilities the US \u2060would want to destroy before executing more complex operations.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s army earlier said \u200bin reference to the strait: \u201cWe will undoubtedly resist until the end and will \u200bneutralise American interventions in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s military spokesperson has said that the only way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz was for the US to comply with the 14-point \u200cmemorandum of understanding that the two sides signed in June, and \u200bthe implementation of \u201cIranian regulations\u201d regarding ship traffic in the strait.<\/p>\n

Trump on Tuesday threatened to hit Iranian power plants \u2060and bridges next week unless Tehran resumes negotiations.<\/p>\n

Akraminia said that if Trump \u2060carried out the threat, Iran\u2019s armed forces \u200bwould strike \u201call remaining infrastructure\u201d across the region, and the response would be more severe, wider in scope and more destructive than previous attacks.<\/p>\n

Iran said on Thursday it had targeted US bases in Kuwait and Jordan, warning its neighbours against allowing the US to launch attacks against it. \u201cOur neighbours should know that providing a base to the Americans and allowing them to fire on Iranian soil is unacceptable and will not go unanswered,\u201d Iran\u2019s army said in a statement.<\/p>\n

By early Thursday in the Middle East, sirens sounded in Bahrain, and Kuwait said it was responding to \u201chostile drone threats\u201d.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s army said it targeted the Al Azraq Air Base in Jordan with ballistic missiles, while Iran\u2019s Revolutionary Guards said they had destroyed the satellite \u200ccommunications centre and early warning radar at \u2060the Ali Al Salem Air Base, as well as a US military pier in the Al Shuaiba area of Kuwait.<\/p>\n

The Bahraini defence ministry said the country\u2019s air defence systems had intercepted and destroyed a number of Iranian aerial attacks targeting the kingdom on Thursday. <\/p>\n

\"AnAn anti-US billboard depicting US president Donald Trump in a coffin, accompanied by a sentence in Persian that reads: “We kill Trump” displayed at the Enghelab Square in Tehran, Iran. Photograph: EPA <\/p>\n

The latest escalation \u200cand Iran\u2019s threats to shut off more regional energy exports and possibly strike regional infrastructure raise the spectre of a return to full-scale war in the region. Analysts say Iran has signalled it may \u200buse its Houthi allies in Yemen to shut the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea, opening a new front \u200bagainst Washington and putting a second of the world\u2019s most vital energy arteries at risk.<\/p>\n

The war has killed thousands of people and displaced millions, mainly in Iran and Lebanon, where conflict restarted between Israel and Iran-backed militant group Hizbullah. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iran has asked Yemen\u2019s Houthi movement to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549410,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,42,166933,11829,150432,43,383,40,38,41,39,115],"class_list":["post-552810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-houthi","tag-iran","tag-israel-iran-conflict","tag-news","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}