Houthi forces captured the strategic island of Perim and the coastal town of Dhubab in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Friday, Sept. 11, 2026. Satellite imagery verified by Reuters also showed smoke near Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline, which Saudi Arabia has shut down. These developments follow the Houthi capture of the port city of Mokha on Thursday, which sits approximately 50 miles from the strait that handles about 12% of global trade.
The escalation comes as Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, has increasingly relied on Red Sea shipping routes due to the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the ongoing conflict involving Iran and the U.S. Shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb had already fallen by 60% since late 2023 following initial Houthi attacks. A military official for the internationally recognized Yemeni government reported that its forces withdrew from the island and expressed shock that the Saudi air force did not intervene during the Houthi advance on Mokha.
In response to the Houthi gains, crude oil prices reached $108 a barrel on Friday, the highest level since May. Houthi officials stated they would continue their "escalation for escalation" against Saudi Arabia but claimed maritime navigation remains safe for companies not using Saudi vessels. Meanwhile, Axios reported that U.S. President Donald Trump rejected two phone requests from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday to launch military strikes against the rebels, as the U.S. seeks to avoid direct military involvement.
The shift in control of the 17-mile-wide Bab el-Mandeb channel forces the Saudi government to seek longer routes, such as moving oil north through the Suez Canal or Egyptian pipelines to reach Asian markets. The UN migration agency noted that those fleeing the new battlefronts are often leaving with only what they can carry, heightening the humanitarian requirements in the Arab world's poorest nation.
What happens next: International attention shifts to New Delhi, where Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is scheduled to attend the BRICS summit on Saturday and Sunday. Diplomatic efforts continue as the foreign ministers of Iran and Saudi Arabia held discussions on Thursday regarding regional stability. While the U.S. has bolstered support for Saudi Arabia, official statements indicate no current plans for direct military action, leaving the security of the Red Sea shipping lanes in a state of uncertainty.