Yemen’s Houthis reach strategic island in Bab el-Mandeb Strait

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis reached the strategic island of Perim in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Friday, four Yemeni government sources told Reuters, moving to tighten their grip on a vital global shipping route in the widening Middle East war.

Earlier, two sources from the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised Yemeni government said its forces had pulled out of Perim and that the Houthis had also taken the mainland Red Sea coastal town of Dhubab, which faces the island.

If the Houthis gain control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which is ‌on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz, it could give their backer Iran a critical advantage in its war with the US, reducing supplies through a second major transit corridor and sending oil prices surging.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter and a close US ally, has relied on the Red Sea route since the Iran conflict effectively closed Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil used to flow.

In the wider war between Iran and the United States, the two sides have carried out a wave of tit-for-tat attacks this week on shipping in the Gulf, while President Donald Trump has jacked up economic pressure on Tehran. Diplomacy is largely stalled.

Iran confirmed on Friday that its representatives and those of Iraq and the Gulf Arab states would meet in Oman on Monday to resume discussions on safe commercial shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz. The Financial Times originally reported the planned meeting.