Djibouti built its economy on a strategy of imposing rents on various military powers.
The United States, China, France, Japan, Türkiye and Italy all have bases in this Horn of Africa country. But an escalation of the war against Iran risks closing the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and Djibouti becoming the next hotspot. Al Jazeera’s Marthe van der Wolf explains.
Posted on: April 7, 2026
