Abstract
Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea region intended to pressure Israel to stand down in Gaza, and US strikes against targets in Yemen in response, invite comparisons to the ‘Tanker War’ that arose during the 1982–88 Iran–Iraq War and subsequent US–Iran confrontations. The Tanker War analogy is of limited utility, however. While both conflicts involve Iran sanctioning attacks against maritime commerce, it is an Iran-backed group – the Yemen-based Houthi rebels – rather than Iran itself that is perpetrating today’s attacks on seaborne trade. Tehran also does not face external pressures comparable to those prevailing during the Iran–Iraq War, and the possibility of an outright war between the United States and Iran is higher today than it was in the 1980s. Accordingly, the US is likely to have a harder time stopping attacks on shipping.
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