Iran War Spreads Across Vital Shipping Lanes
Fresh attacks around the Gulf of Oman and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait are deepening fears that the Iran war could further disrupt global energy supplies as hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough fade.
The conflict is increasingly spilling into the sea lanes that carry a large share of the world’s oil and commerce. The United States and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis reported separate attacks on shipping, while Tehran said the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed unless Washington accepts its conditions for ending the war. A suspected Houthi attack on a cargo vessel in the Bab el-Mandeb killed crew members, adding to the danger facing ships moving between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
The renewed violence is undercutting repeated suggestions that a settlement may be close. Oil prices rose as traders weighed the risk of longer disruptions, and governments and shipping companies are confronting the possibility that two of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints could remain unsafe. The longer the crisis drags on, the greater the danger of higher fuel and transport costs feeding through to inflation and slowing the global economy.
