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The naval war and the fierce struggle for control of the Gulf and Red Sea straits open existential questions with historical shadows steeped in sea salt, noisy with the slap of waves against the wooden planks of ships since the dawn of history.

Yesterday, three informed sources told Reuters that Iran asked the Houthi group in Yemen to prepare to close the Bab el-Mandeb strait if the United States attacked Iranian energy infrastructure.

In March 2026, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would provide political insurance and guarantees for maritime trade, especially energy shipments crossing the Gulf.

Regarding this last point—the role of maritime insurance and trade guarantees—Professor Samir al-Taqi wrote a nice piece in the Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar, noting that Trump's announcement takes us back to 3500 BC, where the Babylonian merchant stood anxiously watching his ships depart toward the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Sea, to return laden with copper, tin, spices, and lapis lazuli. As soon as they disappeared over the horizon, news of them ceased, and they fell prey to pirates who captured them or storms that sank them, costing his family wealth for centuries. What a gamble.

The writer toured the dangers of maritime trade in the Arabian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, and the Indian Ocean from Hammurabi to Sinbad to the Genoese notary to the offices in Lloyd's and intelligence agencies in London... to America.

Strategic insurance systems were what decided to wrest Hormuz from Iran's grip, as Professor al-Taqi deduced.

All this brings us back to a fundamental and decisive issue, discussed here repeatedly: that the matter of Hormuz, and now Bab el-Mandeb, is not solely in the hands of the Revolutionary Guard leaders; they are being pushed to globalize this conflict and invite international parties, let alone regional ones. This is a foregone conclusion, as they are the people of the region and lords of these seas.

I am not an expert in maritime navigation laws or maritime insurance laws, risk assessment, or the financial and legal issues related to that. But what I am certain of is that the Gulf states and Red Sea states must be at the forefront or at the heart of any endeavor concerning these two straits. This is a matter of course.

And the question: Will the Houthi do it upon Iran's order, and will that be his final demise?!

An Arab proverb speaks of a person who brings about his own death, like the goat that digs in the dirt until it uncovers the knife with which it will be slaughtered. The proverb goes: 'She searched for her death with her hoof.'

As quoted from Asharq Al-Awsat

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