TEHRAN – When he was planning to attack Iran for the second time in less than nine months—and again in the middle of nuclear negotiations—U.S. President Donald Trump was warned about the potentially devastating consequences of the day after, according to reports by U.S. media.

His military and economic advisers cautioned that if Iran chose to constrict navigation through the Strait of Hormuz in response, forcing the waterway open again would not be easy for U.S. naval forces, which could face Iranian missile and drone attacks, the same reports add. Trump allegedly replied that Iran’s government would collapse before it could move to “shut” the strait.

The U.S. president nevertheless moved forward with his plans.  Together with Israel, he assassinated the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, in strikes on his office in Tehran on February 28, and on the same day bombed an all-girls elementary school in southern Iran, killing more than 165 children. In the days since, the United States and Israel have continued striking Iran, mostly targeting additional schools, hospitals, and residential buildings. 

Trump now declares himself the victor, citing photographs of destruction in Iranian cities. Analysts, however, argue that the United States has already lost the war, having failed to achieve its stated objective of toppling the Islamic Republic while also being unable to prevent Iran’s unprecedented response. That response has included sustained strikes on U.S. bases in the region, heavy attacks on Israeli positions in the occupied territories, and, most significantly, control of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran announced heavy restrictions on navigation through the Strait of Hormuz on March 1. Since then, the country has targeted at least 11 ships that failed to comply with orders. Some reports suggest that one Turkish vessel and two Indian ships passed through the strait with Iran’s permission, but aside from those cases, no energy exports have managed to move through the waterway—through which more than 20 percent of the world’s energy supply used to pass each day. 

Oil prices climbed above $104 per barrel on Friday, stock markets in the United States and across the Persian Gulf have continued to incur heavy losses, and consumers around the world—including in the U.S.—are anxiously watching energy prices rise with no end in sight.

But this is not all. In his first address to Iran and the region since assuming leadership, the new Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei—the son of the martyred Leader—said the Strait of Hormuz must remain under Iran’s control. He also declared that Iran may open additional fronts “where the enemy does not have experience and is vulnerable.”

The Tehran Times contacted a high-ranking military official currently overseeing the war to learn more about what those fronts might entail. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the commander said one of them concerns other strategic corridors around the world, adding that plans related to those routes have already been reviewed and finalized.

“We have developed plans that would allow for wide-ranging actions involving key corridors,” the official told a Tehran Times correspondent. “The current tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz are just one of several options available to us. If we judge it necessary, we will also take action with regard to other corridors.”

The official did not provide further details.
 
Mahdi Bakhtiari, a military affairs analyst, believes one corridor Iran may be considering for an expansion of the war is the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, located between Yemen and the African countries of Djibouti and Eritrea. The strait links the Red Sea to the Suez Canal, which in turn connects to the Mediterranean Sea.

“There are three strategic straits in the world: Hormuz, Malacca in Southeast Asia, and Bab-el-Mandeb,” the expert said. “Iran has already restricted movement though the Strait of Hormuz and possesses the capability to do so at Bab-el-Mandeb as well, including with the missiles it recently tested. However, Iran is more likely to influence navigation there through the help of its powerful ally in Yemen, Ansarullah.”

Bab-el-Mandeb carries between 6 and 7 million barrels of oil per day, accounts for roughly 3 to 4 percent of global LNG flows, and handles about 10 to 15 percent of global container trade. Any disruption or closure of the strait would likely deepen the current global energy crisis and create additional commercial challenges for both Europe and Asia.

“Ansarullah has already announced that it will enter the war in Iran’s favor,” Bakhtiari added. “In previous years, it demonstrated its ability to target shipping by successfully striking Israeli-owned or Israeli-bound vessels and effectively turning Israel’s southern port of Eilat into a near-ghost port.”

The United States briefly attempted to intervene in Yemen’s campaign against Israeli shipping in 2025 but later stepped back and called for a ceasefire after its own vessels began coming under attack from Ansarullah forces.

By Faramarz Kouhpayeh