Iran is reportedly readying a new pressure point in its standoff with the US: the Red Sea. Reuters, citing sources including two senior Iranian officials. reports that Tehran has asked Yemen's Houthi movement to be prepared to disrupt oil shipping through the Red Sea's Bab el-Mandeb strait if the US targets Iran's power infrastructure. A source close to the Houthis says they've already positioned missiles and drones overlooking the waterway and are awaiting the order, with Iran's Revolutionary Guard officers in Yemen said to control the timing.
With traffic in the Strait of Hormuz already largely halted by Iranian attacks, a hit to Bab el-Mandeb would simultaneously choke off the region's two main oil export routes. Roughly 7% of global energy flows and much of Saudi Arabia's rerouted exports pass through the waterway. Analysts say any escalation that reaches Red Sea ports or shipping lanes would sharply deepen the existing energy crunch. The Houthis massively disrupted global shipping with attacks on vessels in response to the Gaza war.
Sources tell the Telegraph that the Houthis are working with Somalia's al-Shabab militants in an effort to control both sides of the waterway. "The Houthis are transferring drone technology to al-Shabab on behalf or Iran, so the Houthis are becoming the leaders of the region," one source says. Analysts say the Houthis are Iran's "partners, not puppets" and attacks on the waterway would also serve their own purposes, as their long-running clash with Saudi Arabia appears to be reigniting.
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