Is Malacca Strait at risk from Hormuz ‘chain reaction’ after warning from Iranian adviser?

Chinese analyst says the Mideast crisis has made the world start ‘thinking about the security of shipping routes again’

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“The era of imposing security from across the oceans has come to an end,” Iran’s senior adviser Ali Akbar Velayati has said. Photo: EPA

Published: 3:00pm, 20 Apr 2026Updated: 10:26pm, 20 Apr 2026

Any “mischief” in the Strait of Hormuz would trigger “a chain-reaction response” in more critical shipping lanes, including the Malacca Strait in Southeast Asia, an adviser to the Iranian supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has warned.

The warning from Ali Akbar Velayati, international affairs adviser to Khamenei, came hours after Iran declared another full closure of Hormuz – days before a fragile ceasefire with the US was due to expire.

“The era of imposing security from across the oceans has come to an end,” Velayati wrote on social media on Sunday.

“Today, not only has the security of Hormuz and Malacca been guaranteed under the shadow of our power and that of our strategic partners, but the security of Bab el-Mandeb [Strait] is also in the hands of the Ansar Allah brothers,” he said, referring to the Yemen-based armed group also known as the Houthis.

“Any mischief will have a chain-reaction response,” Velayati cautioned.

Tehran declared a full closure of the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday evening local time, just a day after it said the waterway was open for commercial vessels.

Is Malacca Strait at risk from Hormuz ‘chain reaction’ after warning from Iranian adviser?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Chinese analyst says the Mideast crisis has made the world start ‘thinking about the security of shipping routes again’

Chinese analyst says the Mideast crisis has made the world start ‘thinking about the security of shipping routes again’