DM Monitoring
Sanaa: Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis reached the strategic island of Perim in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Friday, four Yemeni government sources told media, 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 corridor and further raising oil prices.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter and a close US ally, has relied on the Red Sea route since the conflict, which began with US and Israe-li strikes on Iran six months ago, effectively closed Hormuz, previously a conduit for about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas trade.
Iran and the US have escalated attacks this week on Gulf shipping, while US 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.
In a speech marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the US, Trump called Iran “the world’s number one sponsor of terror”. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian responded by saying the accusation came from “the same devils” responsible for an apparent US strike on a school at the start of the conflict in February.
In a further potential setback for Riyadh, satellite imagery verified by media showed smoke on Thursday in the vicinity of Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline, which has become a vital means for the kingdom to divert crude exports from Hormuz. There was no confirmation from Saudi Arabia of any incident in the area. The Saudi government media office and state oil giant Aramco did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Saudi crude supply fell 2.3 million barrels per day on the month in August to 6 million bpd, the lowest level in more than three decades, the Interna-tional Energy Agency said on Friday, partly due to the targeting of ships transiting Bab el-Mandeb by Houthi-linked groups.
Oil prices dipped on Friday but were on track to end the week above $100 a barrel for the first time since mid-May. Vessels tracked transiting the Strait of Hormuz fell to seven on Thursday from 11 the previous day, preliminary ship-tracking data showed on Fri-day, below the 10-day average. Before the war, the strait typically handled about 125 large commercial vessels per day.
The Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said maritime navigation remained safe for all shipping except Saudi vessels subject to a previously announced ban.
“We will continue to enforce blockade for blockade and escalation for escalation until the aggression stops and the blockade on our people is lifted,” he said, referring to Saudi attacks on Yemen.
