Iran-Backed Houthi Rebels Capture Strategic Red Sea Island and Port, Threatening Global Shipping Lanes

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, carrying essential goods worldwide, including millions of barrels of oil each day.

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.

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.

As the Huthis marched 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.

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. 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.