IRGC spokesman says Iran could widen blockade to Bab al-Mandeb and Suez

The spokesman says the Strait of Hormuz is not yet fully closed, even as mines, fires and a sinking have kept tanker traffic depressed.

An Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps spokesman says Tehran has not completely closed the Strait of Hormuz and could extend the blockade to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Suez Canal.

The statement follows an unconfirmed Iranian claim that US forces struck Iran's Konark naval base, a claim Washington has not confirmed. Iran's foreign minister Araghchi had said the strait could reopen within six days, with talks resuming with Washington on the seventh if Iran's conditions were met. That window lapsed without a deal. A day earlier, Iran's army chief had vowed the strait stays closed until those conditions are met. President Trump has said the US would act alone against Iran if necessary, after backing Prime Minister Netanyahu.

Tanker traffic through the strait has already been depressed by mines, fires and a sinking, Araghchi has said. On Thursday, an Iranian projectile sank the GFS Pride in the strait, with all 21 crew rescued. On Saturday, Iran reported that another tanker had struck a mine there.

The spokesman's acknowledgment that the strait remains only partly closed cuts against weeks of tanker fires, mine strikes and a sinking that had pointed toward a fully contested corridor. Floating a threat to widen the blockade to Bab al-Mandeb and the Suez Canal moves the IRGC's posture from defending its leverage over Hormuz to signaling it can extend pressure to shipping routes well outside the current theater. Coming after Iran's own conditional reopening offer lapsed without a deal, the statement reads as an attempt to expand bargaining leverage rather than a move toward actual closure, and it keeps crude oil's existing risk premium intact while the standoff remains unresolved.