Expensive fuel and million dollar missiles: Counting the cost of the Red Sea crisis

Should Iran, which supports the Houthis and has deployed a warship to the region, want to continue to up the ante, it could exert pressure on the Strait of Hormuz off its own coast, another key transit route, escalating supply chain disruptions further. “Iran suddenly has the ability to shut down or at the very least disrupt the two most important shipping lanes for Europe,” said Tobias Borck, senior research fellow for Middle East security at the Royal United Services Institute, a U.K.-based think tank.