If you want to understand how a war spreads, all you have to do this Monday is look at a map. It began in the Strait of Hormuz. Now it's reaching for the Red Sea. The Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen announced that it intends to blockade Saudi shipping at the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the southern gateway to the Red Sea. Until now, Saudi Arabia has still been able to reroute part of its oil exports through that corridor while Iran tightened its grip on Hormuz. If the Houthis follow through on their threat, today's supply squeeze could turn into a full-blown crisis, leaving half the world's energy supply dependent on two strategic chokepoints at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree justified the move by accusing Saudi Arabia of continuing its blockade of Yemen. Regional experts say that narrative is aimed primarily at a domestic audience and argue that Houthi operations remain closely tied to Tehran's strategic interests. It is an old playbook - dressing up someone else's war as an act of self-defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n