The Iranians Close The Red Sea

Back in the old days when we focused on the real world and American national security, events abroad that threatened the international order and the balance of power attracted a lot of attention and prompted American Presidents to take immediate and decisive action. Now that the corporate media works in lock step to keep the corrupt and thoroughly compromised man in the White House in power this is no longer the case. The world may be on fire, but you will have to work hard as an average American to find that out.

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Witness the closure of the Red Sea one of the world’s most strategic waterways and gateway to the Suez Canal. The ships that transit the Red Sea carry roughly 8 million barrels of crude oil a day. The Bab Al-Mandab, the strait at the southern end of the Red Sea is only 18 miles wide at its narrowest point.  It is a critical and easily blocked chokepoint.

This waterway is now effectively closed as the result of the actions of the Houthis, who are puppets of Tehran, armed, trained, and directed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). They began some time ago by attacking Israeli vessels. Then they expanded to attacking vessels they claimed were headed for Israel. Their attacks now appear to have broadened and include commercial shipping in general. A Norwegian tanker was hit by a cruise missile earlier this week. Two more commercial vessels were struck by Houthi missiles earlier today.

Some time ago two shipping companies tied to Israel, Zodiac Maritime and Eastern Pacific Shipping, were advised by the companies insuring their vessels that they needed to stop transiting the Red Sea and begin to send their ships all the way around Africa as an alternative. The concern is no longer limited to simply Israeli vessels. The world shipping community now understands anyone moving in the waters of the Red Sea will be attacked.

Following the attack on the Norwegian tanker at least one attempted attack was launched on a container ship belonging to Maersk Lines, a Danish company.

"The current situation puts seafarer lives at risk and is unsustainable for global trade," said Maersk in an official statement following the attempted attack. It cannot be solved by the global shipping industry on its own, we call on political action to ensure a swift de-escalation." Maersk added that henceforth its tankers would avoid the Red Sea altogether.

“This decision has been made with careful consideration of various factors, prioritizing the safety of crew, the vessel, and your cargo,” Maersk stated in an advisory to clients.

Maersk may be the first major shipping line to stop sending any vessels through the Red Sea but it is hardly the only shipper sending its vessels the long way around Africa. Ten days ago Alphaliner a company that provides strategic intelligence and advice to the shipping community noted that at least 12 containerships had diverted from transiting the Suez Canal to the much longer route via the Cape of Good Hope. Another six ships were expected to follow suit. Since then the situation has gotten much worse and the number of ships avoiding the Red Sea only increased.

Predictably enough the Biden administration has made no effective response to any of the Iranian-directed actions by the Houthis. U.S. naval vessels have shot down some Houthi drones fired in the direction of Israel. No attacks have been launched against the Houthi forces on shore that are firing on commercial vessels. Those forces continue to operate with impunity.

The U.S. has made noises about putting together some sort of coalition naval force presumably to escort ships in the Red Sea. The lack of enthusiasm for lining up behind the Biden White House is palpable. Australia is reported to have declined to join the party.

Meanwhile, the Iranians are making no secret of their intentions. Iran’s Defense Minister Mohammad-Reza Ashtiani rejected as “irrational” the US plan to launch a multinational naval coalition in the Red Sea. He warned that if Washington did create such a coalition it would face “extraordinary problems.” He noted that the Red Sea was in his words “our region” and warned, “nobody can make a move in a region where we have predominance.” 

Nobody is afraid of Joe. Everyone understands that Joe’s special envoy lost his security clearance because he was sharing classified information with the Iranians. The world knows that Joe and his family were bought and paid for by Beijing years ago. Everyone remembers the scenes of American forces fleeing Kabul. The entire Middle East knows that there have been upwards of 70 attacks on U.S. forces by Iranian surrogates in the last month and that we have done nothing of consequence in response.

For decades keeping the shipping lanes in the world’s strategic waterways open was a key tenet of American national security policy and doctrine. No longer. One of the world’s most strategic waterways was just sealed by a hostile foreign power. We are pretending like it did not happen.

Iran just closed the Red Sea. What next?