Costly Red Sea lessons haunt new effort to protect Strait of Hormuz

The Western allies trying to negotiate a way to protect the Strait of Hormuz for energy shipping face a stark reality: a similar effort in the Red Sea that started years earlier cost billions of dollars and ultimately failed against Yemen’s Houthis.

The costly Red Sea experience – four ships sunk, more than $1 billion in weapons expended, and a route that the shipping industry still largely avoids – looms over the more complex Strait of Hormuz, the shipping artery used by roughly a fifth...