Part of the Red Sea coast has fallen under military control of Iran-backed Houthi allies, while Iranian drones attacked Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline in a parallel escalation.
The pipeline is Saudi Arabia’s main alternative route for moving oil around the Strait of Hormuz, making the attack a direct threat to bypass capacity if Gulf shipping is disrupted.
The report frames the twin moves as a case of “weaponized interdependence” — using trade, energy and transport chokepoints as tools of coercion rather than relying only on conventional battlefield gains.
That escalation is presented as a broader warning that global economic integration can become a source of conflict, especially when critical routes and infrastructure are concentrated in a few vulnerable corridors.