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Iran Threatens Two More Naval Chokepoints

(Weekly Standard) Lenny Ben-David - Considerable attention is being given to Iranian threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, through which a large proportion of the world's petroleum sails. Yet the recent visit of two Iranian naval vessels to the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah should draw attention to two more vital naval chokepoints - the Bab el Mandeb Strait at the southern tip of the Red Sea, and the Suez Canal located between the northern tip of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. More than three million barrels of oil pass through the Bab el Mandeb every day on the way to the Suez Canal and the Suez-Mediterranean pipeline used by tankers that are too big to traverse the Canal. Closure of the Bab el Mandeb would force ships to travel around the southern tip of Africa. Iranian naval ships have also been patrolling in the Gulf of Aden which lays just south of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, waters known for their Somalia-based pirates. Iran's growing interest in the region led it to announce plans to open embassies in Somalia and in Djibouti, another country on the Horn of Africa that borders on the Bab el Mandeb.
2012-02-10 00:00:00
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