If the Houthis gain full control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, it could give their backer Iran a critical advantage in the war with the US.
Members of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces fire a tank during what they say to be clashes with Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis in a location given as near Al-Hazm, Yemen, in this screen grab obtained from a handout video released Sep 9, 2026. (Photo: Media Centre Of The Yemeni Armed Forces/Handout via REUTERS)
11 Sep 2026 06:15PM
(Updated: 11 Sep 2026 06:36PM)
ADEN: Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis on Friday (Sep 11) reached the strategic island of Perim in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, four Yemeni government sources told Reuters, potentially tightening their grip on one of the world's vital shipping routes and further increasing the threat to energy markets in the widening Middle East war.Earlier, two sources from the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised Yemeni government said its forces had withdrawn from Perim and that the Houthis had also taken the mainland Red Sea coastal town of Dhubab, which faces the island.If the Houthis gain full control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz, it could give their backer Iran a critical advantage in the 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, has relied on the Red Sea route since the Iran conflict effectively closed Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil used to flow.
