This war in Iran—which is nearly five weeks old and that U.S. President Donald Trump foisted upon the world without either American or European support—has caused the price of a barrel of oil to skyrocket almost double what it was before the war. In the U.S., it caused the price of gasoline at the pump to increase over 30%. Some analysts have predicted if this war continues into the summer, it will be more than double that.
Iran Is Blocking the Strait of Hormuz
It’s mostly because Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz at the end of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of seaborne oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) pass. Most of that commodity goes to India, China, Japan, and South Korea, but some of it goes to Europe. Iran is allowing ships from some friendly nations to pass through the Strait, even charging some of them reportedly $2 million per ship. Thus, Iran is trying to establish a toll booth there in violation of the UN’s Conference of the Law and the Sea. This twenty-four-mile-wide Strait of Hormuz is located between Iran on the northeast and the Arabian Peninsula on the southwest.
The Houthis May Block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait
However, those ships carrying oil and gas that transit from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz and on to Europe must also traverse another similar strait that can be blocked as well. That is the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula through which ships travel up the Red Sea, through the Suez Canal, into the Mediterranean Sea, and on to Europe. The Houthis have effectively controlled this Mandeb Strait just as Iran is now controlling the Strait of Hormuz. And the Houthis just joined with Iran last week in firing missiles at Israel. They could expand this anti-Israel effort by blocking this strait, which they have done before.
The Houthis are a tribe ruling North Yemen that borders on this Mandeb Strait. They also are a proxy of sorts for Iran. Both are of the Shia sect of the Islam religion. (Shia Muslims clash with Sunni Muslims, who dominate the Gulf states.) Since 2020, the Houthis have blocked the Mandeb Strait periodically. They have done it against Israeli ships and those of nations supporting Israel, such as the U.S. Like Iran, they are pro-Palestinian and thus advocate for a Palestinian state.
I think Iran and the Houthis could join together in blockading these two straits to ships from nations that refuse to recognize the concept of a Palestinian state.
But Iran and the Houthis could take it a step further, perhaps not now but soon, once the Gaza war completely ends and the planned reconstruction of the Gaza Strip begins for the Palestinians. Iran and the Houthis, the latter representing North Yemen, could then declare that they recognize this new Gaza Strip as the State of Palestine. They then could require nations to do the same to transit through these two straits. If not, they could declare that such ships would be targets of their missiles and drones. This would cause maritime shipping companies to refuse the risk of insuring such ships. That definitely stops shipping. Blocking the Strait of Hormuz and the Mandeb Strait, and insurance companies then refusing to insure ships passing through there, are the leverages that Iran and the Houthis would have.
You might say the U.S. could just bomb the hell out of them and stop these blockages. Well, when Israel began its Gaza war with the U.S. furnishing Israel with weapons, the Houthis declared their support of the Palestinians and attacked U.S. ships transiting through the Mandeb Strait. Even though the U.S. military then fired at something like 800 Houthi targets, such as militarized caves on the coast, they were pretty much unsuccessful in stopping the Houthis’ attacks.
Could They Force Creation of a Palestinian State?
Iran and the Houthis eventually could take it even another step farther. That would be that nations having maritime passage through these two straits would have to also agree to a declaration that the Palestine state in Gaza be enlarged in a land swap with the West Bank. That is, there would be an exchange of land in which Israel would forfeit its territory in the coastal plain south of Tel Aviv to the State of Palestine in Gaza in exchange for the territory of the West Bank, which Israel could then annex. Of course, this would require a transfer of Palestinians from the West Bank to this State of Palestine which will be merely a very enlarged Gaza Strip.
All of this is laid out at my kermitzarley.com website. Click On Palestine>Expand Gaza. Also, read my book Palestine Is Coming: The Revival of Ancient Philistia. Read the main half of the book free there at my website. Published 36 years ago, developing events since then are continuously proving this book to be prescient, which is based on my interpretations of some Bible prophecies. That is, a Palestinian state will be created only in the coastal plain south of Tel Aviv, and Israel will annex all of the West Bank.
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