Two Chokepoints, One Strategy: Iran's War Just Went Maritime on Both Flanks
Ship traffic through the Strait of Hormuz just collapsed to seven transits in a single day — less than half the 10-day average — and it happened the same week Houthi fighters seized Perim Island at the mouth of the Red Sea. Read those two facts together and you get the real story: for the first time in this war, both of the Middle East's critical maritime chokepoints are under simultaneous pressure. That's not a coincidence. That looks like a strategy.
Bottom Line
The Hormuz traffic collapse isn't the story by itself — it's one jaw of a pincer. Whether by direct Iranian design or aligned opportunism, pressure on Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb simultaneously converts Iran's regional proxy network into a geographic weapon, forcing the US to defend two gates at once and signaling this war is widening, not winding down. The strategic question is no longer whether Iran can hurt the US — it's whether the US can be strong everywhere at the same time.