Iran mobilizes the Houthis, its allies in Yemen, who threaten to open a new front from the Red Sea

The Houthis have made official this Saturday his entry into combat with a direct attack against “sensitive military targets” in Israeli territory.

In a televised statement, the spokesman for the Houthis’ military wing, Yahya Sarea, said: the operation “successfully achieved its objectives” and warned that new attacks would occur.

The Yemeni spokesman warned that his campaign of attacks will will remain active as long as the aggression against Iran’s allied fronts is not put to an end.

At the moment, the organization threatens to block Bab al Mandeb as assured by his deputy minister of information, Mohammed Mandur.

“We are fighting this battle in stages and closing the strait is one of our options.”

Closure in the Red Sea

Bab al Mandeb barely reaches 29 kilometers at its critical point. This road separates Africa from Asia and It serves as an obligatory bridge between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

If the Houthis carry out their threat, maritime trade will suffer an unprecedented shock. The strait is the obligatory step for 10% of the planet’s goods.

Its closure would condemn shipping companies to a long route bordering Africa, making the transportation of oil and gas more expensive at a time of great volatility in energy markets.

If this were to happen, it would not be the first time that the Houthis’ action has affected the world market.

In 2023, after the Hamas attacks on October 7, the Yemeni militia turned the Red Sea into an impassable area.

Its campaign of harassment with drones and missiles against ships linked to Israel forced the large shipping companies into a desperate maneuver.

They had to give up the Suez Canal to round the Cape of Good Hope.

This detour, a route of thousands of additional kilometers, not only skyrocketed operating costs, but also jeopardized delivery times throughout Europe.

As a result, Washington carried out surgical strikes against hundreds of targets on Yemeni soil to degrade the militia’s firepower.

Although the rebels maintain their own decision-making, their arsenal reveals the hand of Iran.

What were once rudimentary missiles are now long-range drones and cruise missiles capable of hitting targets more than 2,000 kilometers away.

This technology transfer has turned Yemen into Iran’s land-based aircraft carrier at the gates of the Red Sea.

The Strait of Hormouz

Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced Saudi Arabia to divert oil via a pipeline to its Red Sea coast.

Cargoes destined for the Asian market then sail south through Yemen, making Bab al-Mandeb the main channel for these shipments.

Tehran keeps the road it travels under siege a fifth of world oil consumption, the Strait of Ormouz.

The militarization of this passage, barely 33 kilometers wide in its navigation channel, has turned the Persian Gulf into a mousetrap for supertankers that supply Western and Asian economies.

The current situation in Hormuz has gone from diplomatic tension to de facto intervention.

Given the need to patrol hostile routes on a prolonged basis, the United States government has repeatedly requested a greater involvement of its allies.

The naval forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have intensified the deployment of smart mines and fast attack boats, justifying the closure as a measure of “sovereign defense” against the Israeli offensive.

This combined maneuver between Iran and its Yemeni allies seeks to create a unprecedented commercial blackout.

In this scenario, the world’s two main oil and gas taps would be closed simultaneously, leaving the international community without viable alternative routes.