Houthi forces have seized Perim Island in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a day after capturing the Yemeni port city of Mokha, sending oil prices toward $105 a barrel. The advance threatens one of the world's busiest shipping chokepoints and has prompted a US Central Command visit to Saudi Arabia.
Yemen's Houthi forces have reached Perim Island, a volcanic outcrop that sits directly in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Roughly 10-12% of all global seaborne trade passes through that narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
The seizure came on September 11, one day after Houthi militants captured the port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces. Government troops withdrew from Perim and from the nearby coastal town of Dhubab, ceding a stretch of coastline roughly 70-80 kilometers from the strait.
A rapid coastal advance
Mokha's fall set the rest in motion. Within 24 hours, Houthi forces had reached Perim Island, sometimes called Mayyun, which splits the Bab al-Mandeb into two channels. Whoever holds it can monitor, and potentially threaten, every vessel transiting between Europe and Asia via the Suez Canal route.
UN Envoy Hans Grundberg said on September 10 that the situation is entering "a new and more dangerous phase" — an assessment that came before the Perim Island advance was even confirmed.
Oil prices jump on the chokepoint threat
Oil prices surged to near $100-$105 per barrel, the highest level since mid-May. The spike carries extra weight because the Strait of Hormuz, on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula, has faced effective closures from Iranian blockades following US and Israeli military strikes on Iran earlier this year. Saudi Arabia has been rerouting oil exports through Red Sea ports as an alternative — a workaround that just got riskier.
If both the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab al-Mandeb face disruption at the same time, the world's two primary oil transit corridors would be compromised simultaneously. The Houthis have been disrupting Red Sea shipping since late 2023, but physically holding Perim Island marks a shift from harassment to territorial control of the waterway itself.
US and Saudi Arabia respond
US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper traveled to Saudi Arabia for urgent coordination meetings concerning the Houthi advance, according to an Axios report citing two sources familiar with the matter. The visit suggests heightened regional security concerns as the advance threatens international shipping routes.
The conflict between Houthi forces and Yemen's Saudi-backed government has intensified since a UN-brokered ceasefire lapsed in 2022. For Riyadh, the advance is a direct strategic threat: with Hormuz compromised and the Bab al-Mandeb under Houthi pressure, Saudi oil exports now face chokepoint risk on both available routes.
Sources: Crypto Briefing, Crypto Briefing
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