The new geography of energy corridors

Hormuz → Oman/Fujairah → Bab el-Mandeb → Eritrea

The Hormuz crisis is bringing Eritrea back to the center of a strategic geography that seemed marginal.

As oil seeks new ways out of the Gulf and Bab el-Mandeb becomes more vulnerable, the Eritrean coast gains value as part of the same corridor linking the Persian Gulf, Oman, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The explanation for the US decision to lift sanctions against some of Eritrean's main entities. The measures were imposed in 2021, during the Tigray war, due to the role of Eritrean forces in the conflict.

After the 2022 peace agreement, they remained in effect as part of the U.S. national emergency regarding Ethiopia. On September 18, 2026, that emergency expired, and the U.S. Treasury removed the related designations.

There is not enough evidence to support the claim that Washington reopened relations with Asmara for oil reasons, but the geographical and temporal coincidence deserves attention.

Hormuz is the gateway through which the Persian Gulf communicates with the Indian Ocean, and Bab el-Mandeb is the gateway through which the Red Sea system communicates with the Gulf of Aden, and it is between the two that one of the planet's main energy and trade routes runs.

On the African shore of Bab el-Mandeb lies Eritrea, with a long coastline on the Red Sea and the port of Assab.

The news, therefore, does not only concern the end of some sanctions but the return of a country to the strategic map at a time when that map is changing.

Hormuz has become more difficult to cross and Bab el-Mandeb is more vulnerable; the key dynamic is that Saudi oil continues to move, through ship-to-ship transfers, more complex routes, and higher security costs.

The war is not simply disrupting energy corridors, it is forcing them to reinvent themselves.

When a route becomes unsafe, the focus shifts to an alternative geography, and for this very reason, Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb are not two separate crises; they are two gateways to the same vulnerability.