Inside Yemen’s Gate of Tears: How the Bab al-Mandeb Strait Became Iran’s Strategic Wild Card

A commercial vessel off Yemen's coast at Bab al-Mandeb, in the straits connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean on September 12, 2026. The Bab al-Mandeb Strait is a narrow passage of water separating the Arabian Peninsula from Africa. From the north, it connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. From the south, it provides access through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean. Before the current wars, this passage carried about 30 percent of global container traffic, moving cars, furniture, food, and energy through a route only about 20 miles wide at its narrowest point. Without it, ships traveling between Asia and Europe must go around southern Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, adding thousands of miles, days of travel, and higher prices for goods.

The ongoing conflict with Iran has focused attention on the Strait of Hormuz and the world’s dependency on its energy traffic. Iran has attacked ships in Hormuz to increase pressure on Washington to stop the war and sue for peace. It’s a tactic that Iran honed years ago in the Bab al-Mandeb — and is positioned to repeat after a new offensive by its aligned militant force in Yemen just last week. Bab al-Mandeb translates literally as the “Gate of Tears,” a name some legends attribute to ancient earthquakes and floods that separated Africa from Arabia. While working in the Biden administration, I recently learned all this firsthand.

Since 1979, Iran’s revolutionary government has sought to expand its influence across the Middle East through the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its elite Quds Force, which trains and equips armed groups across the region such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, militias in Iraq, and increasingly, the Houthis in Yemen. The strategy is to build armed networks in weak or fractured states, giving Tehran strategic depth and leverage without fighting directly. The United States, Israel, and regional partners like Saudi Arabia have long been central targets.

Yemen, divided during the Cold War and unified in 1990, never fully resolved its deep political, tribal, and regional divisions. The Houthi movement emerged in northern Yemen in the late 1980s and 1990s from a Zaydi Shiite revival movement, later adopting the name Ansar Allah. In 2014, the Huthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention. While Iran did not create the Huthis, its weapons, missile components, drones, and training helped turn a local insurgency into a globally relevant force.

Shortly before Joe Biden entered office, Yemen was a front-burner issue. President Donald Trump had designated the Houthis a Foreign Terrorist Organization, but aid groups warned this could worsen the humanitarian crisis. In response, the Biden administration revoked the designation, ended US support for Saudi offensive operations, and appointed a special envoy. Concurrently, the US military withdrew regional assets, shifting focus toward diplomacy without hard power backing. As the US pulled back, Iran doubled down, supplying the Houthis through smuggling routes and helping them assemble sophisticated weapons.

In 2023, following Hamas’s October 7 massacres, Iran’s armed partners joined the conflict. Hezbollah fired from Lebanon, Iraq and Syria-based militias attacked American forces, and the Houthis fired ballistic missiles and drones toward Israel while attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb. On January 10, 2024, secret meetings in Oman failed to halt the largest Houthi attack yet against commercial ships and US-led naval forces. President Biden subsequently ordered major US strikes on Houthi military targets, beginning a campaign that lasted for more than a year.

Last year, President Trump restored the terrorist designation of the Houthis and escalated US attacks. Following American strikes, Oman brokered an understanding to pause attacks on US vessels, though it did not cover Israel or Saudi Arabia. However, last week the map changed again when Houthi forces seized new ground overlooking the Bab al-Mandeb and reportedly crossed onto Mayyun Island, also known as Perim. With conventional artillery and rockets now positioned to strike ships directly, the Houthis have reminded the world that they remain a powerful wildcard backed by Iran.