An Iranian Revolutionary Guard commander has said the Mediterranean Sea could be closed if the United States and its allies continued to commit “crimes” in Gaza, Iranian media reported.
“They shall soon await the closure of the Mediterranean Sea, (the Strait of) Gibraltar and other waterways,” Tasnim quoted Mohammad Reza Naqdi, coordinating commander of the Guards, as saying on Saturday.
Iran has no direct access to the Mediterranean itself and it is not clear how it would attempt to close the access to Mediterranean Sea.
Iran backs Palestinian resistance groups against Israel and it accuses the United States of backing what it calls Israeli crimes in Gaza, where weeks of bombardment have killed thousands of people and driven most of the population from their homes.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group has over the past month attacked merchant vessels sailing through the Red Sea in retaliation for Israel’s assault on Gaza, leading some shipping companies to switch routes.
The White House on Friday said Iran was “deeply involved” in planning operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea.
The only groups backed by Iran on the Mediterranean are Lebanon’s Hezbollah and allied militia in Syria, at the far end of the sea from Gibraltar.
