Qatar on Tuesday warned of dire consequences if the vital Bab al-Mandeb waterway were to close, after a months-long blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and recent Houthi attacks on the Red Sea coast.
– “The world is suffering enough with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, so we cannot also afford to add the Bab al-Mandab into that equation,” Qatar foreign ministry official Ibrahim Al Hashmi told reporters.
– He said a closure of the southern entrance to the Red Sea would be “catastrophic for the entire world. And we are already seeing the consequences… so Qatar is pushing for diplomacy, dialogue.”