 Iran threatens U.S. to shut straight of Gibraltar as tensions ramp up. Iran has threatened to close the straight of Gibraltar, and the Mediterranean Sea unless Israel stops bombing Gaza as the U.S. warned Tehran was deeply involved in attacks on shipping. They shall soon await the closure of the Mediterranean Sea, the straight of Gibraltar and other waterways. Brigadier General Mohammed Reza Naqdi, a senior member of the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said, The general did not explain how Iran, which does not border the Mediterranean, intended to make good on its threat. Iran's proxy militias in southern Lebanon and Syria do have access to the sea, through which about a fifth of global maritime trade passes. The Houthis in Yemen, which are backed by Iran, have already forced several major shipping companies to reroute their vessels to avoid the Red Sea by targeting merchant craft with drones and missiles. On Saturday, a Liberian flagged tanker was struck by a drone while it was sailing in the Arabian Sea off the coast of India, setting it on fire.