TEHRAN - An Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander said the Mediterranean Sea could be closed if the United States and its allies continued to commit “crimes” in Gaza, Iranian media reported on Saturday, with­out explaining how that would hap­pen. Iran backs Hamas against Israel and it accuses the United States of backing what it calls Israeli crimes in Gaza, where weeks of bombardment have killed thousands of people and driven most of the population from their homes. 

“They shall soon await the closure of the Mediterranean Sea, (the Strait of) Gibraltar and other waterways,” Tasnim quoted Brig. Gen. Moham­mad Reza Naqdi, coordinating com­mander of the Guards, as saying. Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group has over the past month attacked merchant vessels sailing through the Red Sea in retaliation for Israel’s as­sault on Gaza, leading some shipping companies to switch routes. 

The White House on Friday said Iran was “deeply involved” in plan­ning operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea. Iran has no direct access to the Mediterranean itself and it was not clear how the Guards could attempt to close it off, although Naqdi talked of “the birth of new powers of resistance and the closure of other waterways.” “Yesterday, the Arabian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz became a night­mare for them, and today they are trapped ... in the Red Sea,” Naqdi was quoted as saying. The only groups backed by Iran on the Medi­terranean are Lebanon’s Hezbollah and allied militia in Syria, at the far end of the sea from Gibraltar.