Since the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the first strike of the war on February 28, it has been unclear who in Iran wields ultimate authority over the civilian figures and powerful generals who appear to be in charge. Trump also said Thursday evening that Israel and Lebanon agreed to extend a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah by three weeks after talks at the White House. The standoff between the US and Iran has effectively choked off nearly all exports through the Strait of Hormuz, where 20% of the world’s traded oil passes in peacetime, with no end in sight.

Hapag-Lloyd vessel transits Hormuz Container shipping group Hapag-Lloyd said on Friday that one of its ships has crossed the Strait of Hormuz but did not have any information on the circumstances or timing. Four out of initially six ships remain in the Gulf, after one ship's charter agreement expired, meaning it no longer belongs to the Hapag-Lloyd fleet, a spokesperson added. The four Hapag ships remaining in the Gulf are staffed with 100 crew, who are well-supplied with food and water, he said.

Scores of tankers and other vessels remain stuck in the Gulf as the United States is struggling to keep control of the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's busiest shipping corridors. Somalia threatens Israel's Red Sea shipping Somalia has threatened to block Israeli ships headed towards the Red Sea's Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key junction connecting the Suez Canal and the Indian Ocean. The announcement came via Somalia's ambassador to Ethiopia and the African Union, Abdullah Warfa, who said that the decision came in response to Israel's appointment of an ambassador to Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland.

Warfa said Mogadishu has banned the passage of Israeli ships in the Gulf of Aden and the entrances leading to the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Despite Somalia's relative military weakness, observers note that its decision could reignite tensions in the Red Sea, where the Iran-aligned Houthi group controls a significant stretch of Yemen's coastline along the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The Houthis had previously imposed a blockade on US and Israeli-linked shipping in the Red Sea over Israel's war on Gaza and its refusal to allow humanitarian aid in.

Yemeni economist Rashid al-Haddad explained to The New Arab that Somalia does not require coastal control or significant military might to affect shipping in the area, as recent developments in the Gulf have shown. This could include the use of cheap weapons like drones, which can be produced relatively cheaply and inflict millions of dolllars worth of damage. Al-Haddad suggested that Somalia likely informed countries friendly to Mogadishu of its decision, which could garner at least unofficial support.

Somalia's location on the Red Sea however might prevent it from imposing a direct blockade on the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, where Yemen has more access. If Israel and the US retaliate by targeting Somalia or attempt to exploit the situation by militarising the Red Sea, al-Haddad said that an alliance between Yemen's rebel Houthi movement and Somalia's government could not be ruled out. Somalia’s decision coincided with statements by senior Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti on X, in which he said that that any Israeli presence in Somalia would be a target for his group, who have their "finger on the trigger" in preparation.