NEW YORK, April 16. /TASS/. Houthi rebels from the Yemen-based Ansar Allah movement may shut down an alternative oil trafficking route through the Red Sea in order to support Iran, CNN reports.

According to the media outlet, the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz "presents Iran with a new strategic puzzle." "Its options for escalation are risky since they could trigger a resumption of fighting and a rupture of the ceasefire with the US and Israel," CNN notes.

In such a situation, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen could "shut down an alternative oil trafficking route through the Red Sea." "Such a move would be a hammer blow to the world economy and would surely heap political pressure on Trump as the war would threaten to careen out of control," CNN points out.

The United States and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE were also hit.

Iran and the US held several rounds of talks in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on April 11. The Iranian delegation was led by parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, while Vice President JD Vance headed the US delegation. Both Tehran and Washington said following the negotiations that no agreement on finding a long-term solution to the conflict had been reached due to multiple disagreements. The US imposed a maritime blockade of Iran on April 13.