Irans allies threaten Red Sea attacks as mullahs choke Strait of Hormuz

Iran and its Houthi proxies may target the Red Sea as they look to inflict economic pain using critical transit points beyond the Strait of Hormuz, experts told The Post.The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have mostly stayed quiet since the US launched Operation Epic Fury Feb.28, but if they get into the fight, they could try to lock up the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb in the Red Sea, say defense experts and the Houthis themselves.The 20-mile wide strait is on the southern end of the Red Sea, where it allows the flow of shipping traffic out to the Arabian Sea.

Ships carrying about 10% of the world’s oil and 20% of its containers use it.In an ominous sign, the Houthis posted a music video to their Telegram channel this month threatening to “attack, burn, and sink the collapsing American Pharaoh” and said their “fingers are on the trigger,” while featuring AI-generated images of drones and missiles launched from desert outcroppings.The Houthis have missile and drone capabilities which they used to harass shipping after Israel’s war with Hamas following the Oct.7, 2023 attack inside the Jewish state.Houthi spokesman Abed al-Thawr told Iran’s state-run Press TV “all options are on the table” and threatened a naval blockade against the US and Israel.Iran and its allies are “going up the ladder of escalation, quite methodically, whatever is being done to them they’re, in turn, doing to the Gulf states” and other tactics, said Amir Handjani of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.That is what Iran did in a revenge attack on two Gulf neighbors, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, after Israel struck its main natural gas field last week.

Those attacks are part of Iran’s strategy of “asymmetric warfare” — trying to impose costs on the US by blasting at allies who provide bases and support, actions which have driven the price of oil above $110 per barrel.“I think they’re just hunkered down and trying to be a nuisance with where they are...