Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb Closures Squeeze Global Shipping as Strikes on Iran Continue

Two oil tankers carrying Saudi crude to Asia turned around in the Red Sea on Tuesday after Yemen's Houthis announced a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia, adding a second chokepoint to a shipping crisis that was already squeezing global trade.

The effective closure of the Bab al-Mandeb strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, compounds ongoing disruption in the Strait of Hormuz caused by the US-Israel war on Iran. Together the two waterways carry a substantial share of the world's seaborne energy, and their simultaneous disruption leaves shippers with few alternatives that do not add weeks to a voyage.

The escalation continued overnight. US Central Command said that at 00:15 GMT on Wednesday it had concluded its 11th consecutive night of strikes against Iran, targeting Iranian military operations centres, maritime capabilities, aircraft hangars, drone storage facilities and military logistics infrastructure. The stated aim was "to further degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz". CENTCOM claimed that over the past three months Iran had attacked more than 30 commercial vessels transiting the strait.

Iranian officials reported strikes across a wide geographic spread. The deputy governor of the south-western province of Khuzestan told the Fars news agency that US missiles hit areas near the cities of Behbahan and Omidiyeh. Fars also reported an attack on a military site on the outskirts of Tabriz in the north-west. Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tehran reported that explosions were heard in Tabriz, that air defences were activated over the capital, and that two blasts were heard in Bushehr.

Iran's IRIB state broadcaster said the deputy governor of Sistan and Baluchestan province had confirmed attacks on the south-eastern cities of Chabahar and Konarak. IRIB further reported, citing the deputy governor of Hamadan province, that US forces struck Kabudarahang County in west-central Iran, and that air attacks hit the Chavar and Abdanan regions of western Ilam province as well as Kurdistan province.

Tehran has been retaliating. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Wednesday that "the operation to punish the aggressor continues". Iran's military said it had launched drones at US facilities at Camp Doha in western Kuwait, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency, extending the conflict into the territory of Gulf states that have publicly sought to stay out of it.

For shipping, the practical effect is that two of the most important maritime corridors in the world are now being avoided or transited slowly. Vessel operators face higher insurance premiums, longer routes around the Cape of Good Hope, and the prospect that any cargo committed to the region may be stranded if conditions deteriorate further.

Reported from Al Jazeera.