The Iranian-backed Houthi militants have seized a key island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a strategic maritime chokepoint linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, as the group expands its control along Yemen’s western coastline.
Officials with Yemen’s Saudi-backed government confirmed that Houthi forces reached Perim Island, also known as Mayyun, and seized the coastal city of Dhubab, which sits directly across from the island.
The advance comes after the Houthis captured the strategic port city of Mokha on Thursday, farther north along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, giving the militants control over additional territory overlooking the key shipping route.
The Houthi offensive comes as oil and gas prices have climbed, raising concerns that the conflict could disrupt another major energy corridor following months of instability around the Strait of Hormuz.
Saudi Arabia’s crude supply fell by 2.3 million barrels per day in August to about 6 million barrels per day, its lowest level in more than three decades, according to the International Energy Agency. The IEA cited several factors, including attacks by groups linked to the Houthis on ships transiting the Bab el-Mandeb.
The Bab el-Mandeb is on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz. Control over both waterways would give Iran further leverage over global energy supplies. A Houthi takeover of the strait could restrict oil and commercial shipping while opening another front in the broader conflict with the United States and Israel and potentially drawing Saudi Arabia into the war.
Though the U.S. has insisted it has control of the Strait of Hormuz and removed all sea mine threats from Iran, total shipping through the strait has remained low since the war began over six months ago. Iran previously threatened it would close additional shipping routes with the help of its allies, namely the Houthis.
About 4.2 million barrels of oil and petroleum products passed through the Bab el-Mandeb each day during the first half of 2025, according to the Energy Information Administration. The Houthis began attacking commercial vessels transiting the waterway in November 2023 following Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
But since the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran in February, the strait has become important to Saudi Arabia as Iran has pinched oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper traveled to Saudi Arabia on Thursday for urgent coordination meetings over the Houthi advance in Yemen, according to Axios. The outlet also reported that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Trump twice to urge him to act before the Houthis gained more control. Trump reportedly declined to do so.
UKRAINE WAR ‘SINGLE BIGGEST FACTOR’ DRIVING RECORD DIESEL PRICES, WRIGHT SAYS
The Houthis have also attacked Saudi-linked shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb and Red Sea since declaring a blockade of the area in July, as well as targeting oil infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia. The group has said the attacks are retaliation for the Saudi-backed blockade of Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen, which has been in place for years.
Yemeni government forces, meanwhile, have indicated they intend to retake territory captured by the Houthis in their rapid offensive along the Red Sea coastline, raising the prospect of further fighting around the strategic waterway.