Iran Gains Leverage Over 1 Key Shipping Chokepoint as Houthis Seize Bab al-Mandab
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 15
Iran Gains Leverage Over 1 Key Shipping Chokepoint as Houthis Seize Bab al-Mandab
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Sep 15
Summary
A lightning Houthi offensive along Yemen’s Red Sea coast has put the Bab al-Mandab strait under the militants’ control, strengthening Iran’s hand in its economic confrontation with Washington.
The chokepoint links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean, making it a major route for crude oil, cars and other manufactured goods.
That reach gives Tehran the ability to threaten a waterway the report says plays an even broader role in global shipping than the Strait of Hormuz.
The shift expands Iran’s leverage beyond direct military pressure, adding a new tool in what the report describes as a war of economic attrition with the United States.
With Iran influencing two major global shipping chokepoints, how will international markets secure vital energy and trade routes?
Could the severe damage to Saudi Arabia's alternative oil pipeline force a fundamental shift in Middle Eastern diplomacy?
How vulnerable are critical Europe-Asia undersea cables now that the Bab al-Mandab strait is under militant control?
Seizing the Bab al-Mandeb: The 2026 Houthi Offensive and Its Global Economic and Geopolitical Fallout
Overview
In September 2026, the collapse of a fragile truce between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia—sparked by a diplomatic dispute over an Iranian flight—triggered a rapid Houthi offensive. The Houthis seized Mocha and Mayyun (Perim) Island, gaining control of the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and Yemen’s Red Sea coast. This move, combined with the earlier closure of the Strait of Hormuz, allowed anti-Western forces to choke global energy corridors, causing Saudi Arabia to shut its East-West pipeline and sending oil prices soaring. The crisis forced shipping to reroute around Africa, slashed Suez Canal revenues, and unleashed a humanitarian disaster, with tens of thousands displaced and regional piracy resurging.