Houthi fighters have seized Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb strait after Yemeni government forces withdrew, reportedly completing the Iran-aligned militia's takeover of one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints. The move, confirmed by officials on Friday, comes as Iran simultaneously enforces restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz, together placing an estimated one-third of global seaborne trade under the control or threat of hostile forces.

The dual chokepoint crisis marks a dramatic escalation in a widening Middle East conflict, one that now directly threatens the arteries of global energy and commerce. Bab el-Mandeb, the narrow passage between the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, and Hormuz, the gateway to the Persian Gulf, together handle a vast share of the world's oil shipments and container traffic. With both now compromised, shipping companies, insurers and governments are confronting the prospect of a prolonged disruption to global trade routes not seen in decades.

A Strategic Island Falls

Perim Island sits at the narrowest point of the Bab el-Mandeb strait, dividing it into two navigable channels. Its capture by Houthi fighters, after government troops abandoned their positions, gives the group what officials describe as complete operational control over vessel movement through the strait. Combined with earlier Houthi advances that secured much of Yemen's Red Sea coastline, the group now commands the entire southern approach to the Red Sea.

The strategic value of the island is difficult to overstate. Any vessel transiting between the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, en route to the Suez Canal, must pass within range of shore-based weapons now under Houthi control. That reality transforms a rebel militia, once dismissed as a peripheral actor in Yemen's civil war, into a force capable of threatening the arteries of global trade.

Officials described the seizure as a rapid move that opens a new front in the broader confrontation with Iran, whose support for the Houthis has long been documented by Western intelligence agencies. The rebels' rapid consolidation of the Yemeni coastline suggests a level of coordination and capability that has alarmed regional governments and shipping interests alike.

Saudi Arabia Responds by Shutting Its Pipeline

In response to the deteriorating security situation, Saudi Arabia has shut down its East-West oil pipeline following multiple reported Houthi attacks. The pipeline, which allows the kingdom to move crude from its eastern oil fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, has historically served as a critical alternative route that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz entirely. Its closure removes one of Riyadh's key hedges against exactly the kind of chokepoint crisis now unfolding.

That the pipeline exists at all is a legacy of past Gulf tensions. Saudi Arabia built the route in part to reduce its vulnerability to disruptions in Hormuz, through which a large share of Gulf oil exports have traditionally flowed. With Houthi forces now able to strike at the pipeline's western terminus and Iran restricting traffic through Hormuz in the east, the kingdom finds both of its major export corridors under simultaneous threat, a scenario Saudi planners had long sought to avoid.

Echoes of the Tanker War

The current crisis carries unmistakable echoes of the "Tanker War" phase of the Iran-Iraq conflict in the 1980s, when attacks on oil shipments in the Gulf drew American, British, French and Soviet warships into the region to protect maritime traffic. That earlier episode demonstrated how quickly localized attacks on shipping can escalate into a matter of international concern, drawing in naval powers with no direct stake in the underlying conflict but a vital interest in keeping oil flowing.

Today's situation differs in that the threat spans two separate chokepoints simultaneously, Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb, rather than one contained body of water. Analysts note that this dual pressure point gives Iran and its regional allies significant leverage over global energy markets, since alternative routes for Gulf oil exports are limited and, in Saudi Arabia's case, now partially disabled by the pipeline shutdown.

Global Stakes

The economic stakes extend well beyond oil. Bab el-Mandeb is also a primary route for container shipping between Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal. Disruption there forces vessels onto the much longer journey around the Cape of Good Hope, adding weeks to transit times and substantial costs to global supply chains still recovering from earlier pandemic-era shocks.

Regional governments now face difficult choices reminiscent of past Gulf crises, when conservative Arab states weighed the risks of confronting a hostile power against the dangers of appearing passive in the face of direct threats to their economic lifelines. As in previous episodes of Gulf tension, the question now facing Western powers and their regional partners is whether military escort operations or diplomatic pressure can restore safe passage, or whether the region is entering a prolonged period in which a third of the world's seaborne trade remains hostage to the conflict's next turn.