A recent series of attacks on navy vessels and merchant tankers in a narrow strait off Iran is raising concerns over the security of commercial oil and gas shipping in the crucial Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the waterway of global trade between the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal; it also links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Arden. Iran has been the site of a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Yemen whilst at the same time the Bab al-Mandeb Strait has seen oil trade steadily growing in recent years. Trade in crude oil and petroleum products at the Bab al-Mandeb Strait surged to nearly 4.7 million barrels per day in 2014, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
A recent series of attacks on navy vessels and merchant tankers in a narrow strait off Yemen is raising concerns over the security of commercial oil and gas shipping in the crucial Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the waterway of global trade between the Mediterranean, the Indian Ocean and the Suez Canal; it also links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Arden. Yemen has been the site of a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran whilst at the same time the Bab al-Mandeb Strait has seen oil trade steadily growing in recent years. Trade in crude oil and petroleum products at the Bab al-Mandeb Strait surged to nearly 4.7 million barrels per day in 2014, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).