Iran-backed rebels in Yemen captured the strategic Perim Island in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait on Friday, two Yemeni government sources told CNN, potentially expanding Tehran’s influence over another key global shipping route.
A day earlier, the Huthi group captured the port town of Mocha as it sought to take control of the country’s Red Sea coast.
The news sent shockwaves worldwide over the possible impact on shipping and oil prices, as well as the risk of a new front opening in the US-Iran war.
Bab al-Mandeb is a chokepoint linking Asia and Europe via the Red Sea and Suez Canal. Although less critical to the oil trade than the Strait of Hormuz, it carries essential goods worldwide, including millions of barrels of oil each day.
Its strategic importance has grown since the US-Iran war began, as Saudi Arabia increasingly uses its Red Sea export route to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed to most shipping.
The development coincides with a wider regional escalation of the war between Iran and the United States, after Tehran warned this week that it would step up hostilities against the US, which maintains a stringent naval blockade of Iran and continues to launch military strikes on the country.
How did we get here?
Yemen was plunged into civil war in 2014, when Huthi rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, and drove the internationally recognized government into exile. Saudi Arabia led a military campaign the following year to dislodge the rebels. Iran has supplied the Huthis with weapons and training, and exercises some influence on the rebel group’s decisions.
The result is a fractured country, with the Huthis controlling the capital and the northwest, and the government and allied factions holding much of the south and east. Some 22 million people, roughly half of the population, need humanitarian assistance to this day.
After years of stalemate, fighting between Saudi-backed Yemeni forces and the Huthis flared up in recent weeks as a result of tensions caused by the wider conflict between Iran and the US. The Red Sea became a focal point as Tehran sought ways to pressure the global economy and extract more concessions from Washington.
Fighters loyal to Yemen’s Huthi group shout slogans during a rally to recruit more fighters in Sanaa on Thursday.Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images
Last month, the Huthis intensified an offensive to seize Mocha from Saudi-backed forces. More than 25 Huthi rockets slammed into the sprawling harbor a few weeks ago as commercial ships were unloading, according to port director Abdel Malek Al-Sharaabi.
Until Thursday morning, Mocha was under the control of the National Resistance Forces, a Saudi-backed group commanded by Tarik Saleh, a vice president in Yemen’s beleaguered, internationally-recognized government. Later in the day, the government acknowledged the Huthis had the town.
As the Huthis were marching south, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke twice on Thursday with US President Donald Trump and urged him to strike the Huthis, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN. Trump did not agree to US strikes, one of the sources said. News of the calls was first reported by Axios.
“The United States is focused on protecting our core national security interests—such as ensuring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea—while empowering our regional partners to take the lead in managing and resolving regional security challenges,” a senior administration official said in a statement to CNN when asked about the calls. “We are in continuous dialogue with Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Yemen Government regarding regional stability.”
CNN reported on Thursday that the US had stepped up its intelligence and targeting support for the Saudi campaign against the Huthis in Yemen. Sources told CNN that there are currently tight limits to the US support – not participating directly in strikes or helping to refuel Saudi warplanes or provide other operational support.
In an exclusive interview with CNN earlier this month, Saleh warned that if the Huthis seized Perim Island – which lies directly on the Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint – they could gain control of the strait itself. Dislodging them would require “a massive (international) force and the navies,” he said.
A Huthi military spokesman on Friday confirmed the group had launched a push to expel Saudi-backed forces from the remaining parts of Yemen’s western coast it still occupies, and said navigation through the Bab al Mandeb Strait was “safe for all” except for Saudi vessels.
What comes next?
The capture of Perim and Mocha gives a group trained and aided by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards greater ability to halt traffic in the Red Sea – and potentially hands Iran more leverage in its war with the US.
The Huthis “are in a good position to increase their influence around Bab al-Mandeb … and they can now protect themselves from any ground operations that can come from this area,” Ahmed Nagi, a senior analyst for Yemen with the International Crisis Group think tank, told CNN.
An effective Huthi blockade of Bab al-Mandeb would open a new front in the war with Iran and could require US military intervention, potentially weakening Washington’s ability to keep ships moving through Hormuz. It could also prevent Saudi Arabia from shipping diesel to Europe at a critical moment for the fuel market.
The Huthi advance also allows Iran to increase pressure on Saudi Arabia, a US ally that hosts American troops and bases that Tehran says were used to target it. It could also prevent Saudi Arabia from shipping diesel to Europe at a critical moment for the fuel market.
A Saudi official told CNN that Saudi Arabia will continue to support Yemen’s government and is working closely with its partners to “ensure freedom of navigation in the Arabian Gulf and Red Sea.”
“The Kingdom will also take every necessary measure to ensure that its own citizens and residents are safe and its borders are secure,” the official added.
The move also adds further volatility to oil markets, already under pressure from the very low number of vessels transiting Hormuz. Oil prices jumped four percent on Thursday, with global benchmark Brent crude hitting $105, as news broke of the Huthis gaining ground along the Red Sea. It fell three percent on Friday amid reports that Gulf Arab foreign ministers plan to meet their Iranian counterpart for the first time since the war.
Beyond its geopolitical impact, the developments risk worsening Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, already designated by the United Nations as one of the world’s worst.
“The question now is how the Saudi-led coalition will react,” Nagi of the Crisis Group said. “This is not the end of the battle, we will probably see more developments in the coming days.”
CNN’s Jennifer Hansler, Zachary Cohen, Katie Bo Lillis and Kylie Atwood contributed to this story.
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