A new flash point in the Iran war: The narrow strait called the ‘Gate of Tears’
-
Click here to listen to this article -
- Houthi rebels’ seizure of Yemen’s Red Sea coast gives them a strategic grip on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital route for global shipping.
asserted
seizure → call → shipping
- With the Strait of Hormuz mostly closed by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, Bab el-Mandeb has taken on even greater importance.
asserted
Mandeb → close → importance
- Known as the ‘Gate of Tears’ for the dangers of navigating there, the straight links the Red Sea with the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.
asserted
straight → know → Sea
To visit Bab el-Mandeb is to understand that old adage about looks being deceiving.
asserted
looks → visit → adage
For this humble fishing village in Yemen, a tumbledown grouping of barely-there huts nestled between the water and an imposing mountain range, stands sentinel over one of the world’s most vital waterways.
asserted
grouping → nestle → waterways
The village shares its name with the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow passageway connecting the Red Sea with the Arabian Sea that’s become another flash point in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
asserted
that → share → Iran
“You hear so much about Bab el-Mandeb, you’d think we would be like New York, with skyscrapers and money,” said Saleh, a 58-year-old resident who, like all people interviewed here, refused to give their full name to avoid reprisals.
asserted
who → hear → reprisals
“So many ships pass near here.
asserted
ships → pass → ?
If the Yemeni government knew how to invest in it, we would be rich.
asserted
we → know → it
We should be bringing in billions of dollars.
asserted
We → bring → dollars
Instead, look around you,” he said, pausing as his gaze took in the sorry-looking boats haphazardly laid on the beach.
asserted
gaze → look → beach
“We have nothing.”
asserted
We → have → nothing
Saleh was interviewed in January, when Bab el-Mandeb was thrust into the power struggle between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the friendly-but-occasionally-fractious backers of Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
asserted
Mandeb → interview → government
That war of wills ended with the Emirates ceding control of Bab el-Mandeb — along with the nearby island of Perim, where the Emirates had built a drone airbase — to Saudi Arabia.
But this month, control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait switched once more, when the Houthis, Yemeni rebels backed by Iran, ousted government forces from the waterway in a blitzkrieg in which they seized all of Yemen’s Red Sea coast.
asserted
they → end → coast
The move grants the Houthis a valuable foothold in controlling the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a ribbon of Red Sea — known as the “Gate of Tears” for the dangers involving its navigation — between Yemen’s coast and Djibouti and Eritrea.
asserted
move → grant → coast
About 7% of global energy supplies and around 12% to 15% of all global shipping transit the strait.
asserted
% → transit → strait
And in taking Perim Island, which lies in the middle the Red Sea at the strait’s narrowest point (a mere 12½ miles), the Houthis could harass ships with ease.
uncertain
Houthis → take → ease
“We don’t need a drone or a missile,” one Houthi commander bragged in a social media video posted from the island.
asserted
commander → need → island
Instead, he added, all they had to do was place a few artillery units on Perim’s coast and they would be able to strike any ship crossing the strait.
asserted
they → add → strait
The impact of any movement disruption through Bab el-Mandeb wouldn’t be limited to already skittish energy markets: To enter the Suez Canal’s southern entrance, ships must first transit through Bab el-Mandeb, meaning any trouble in the passageway would force freighters to circumnavigate the African continent — adding anywhere from 12 to 21 days to voyages and spiking fuel costs.
asserted
trouble → limit → costs
A shipping disaster in 2021 shows how blocking the strait — and thus severing a link to the Mediterranean Sea — could harm global commerce.
uncertain
blocking → show → commerce
A container ship in the Suez Canal ran aground and blocked the waterway for six days, delaying the delivery of billions of dollars of goods.
asserted
ship → run → goods
More recently, the Houthis sealed off the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in 2023 to coerce Israel into stopping its campaign in Gaza; that pushed the U.S. to attack the Houthis, before the Trump administration agreed to a ceasefire of its own with the group.
asserted
administration → seal → group
These days, the Houthi advance comes at a particularly fraught moment, one in which Bab el-Mandeb has taken on outsize importance.
asserted
Mandeb → come → importance
With the Israeli-U.S. war on Iran prompting Tehran to seal the Strait of Hormuz — cutting off the world’s most important energy passageway — Persian Gulf oil powerhouses have been forced to divert crude exports to alternatives, including Bab el-Mandeb.
asserted
powerhouses → prompt → Mandeb
That’s especially true for Saudi Arabia, which turned to its East-West pipeline and exports through the Red Sea to sidestep the trouble in Hormuz.
asserted
which → ’ → Hormuz
But it’s also the most vulnerable to the Houthi threat.
asserted
it → ’ → threat
The Houthis have a long-running animus against the Saudis, which began in 2015, months after the Houthis overran the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in 2014.
asserted
Houthis → have → 2014
Saudi Arabia, spooked about the notion of an Iranian ally on its border, led a coalition — with U.S. backing — to dislodge them.
asserted
Arabia → spook → them
It started a blockade and a devastating air campaign that persisted until a 2022 truce.
asserted
that → start → truce
But in July, the ceasefire broke after the Houthis accused the Saudis of striking Sanaa‘s airport in what appeared to be an attempt to stop Iranian flights from landing there.
asserted
what → break → flights
The Houthis began attacking Saudi Arabian oil infrastructure and declared a naval blockade against the kingdom.
asserted
Houthis → begin → kingdom
The rebels’ land grab this month stunned Saudi Arabia, which failed to launch airstrikes and stanch the rout of its allied forces from the coast.
asserted
which → stun → coast
Saudi leaders reportedly reached out to President Trump to push the rebels back, but he appears disinclined to help.
uncertain
he → reach → rebels
Still, on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “We have a very strong defense agreement with Saudi Arabia, and we will live up to our commitments in that agreement.”
asserted
we → say → agreement
He did not elaborate on what U.S. support that would entail.
asserted
that → elaborate → what
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia said its defenses intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis towards Taif, a manufacturing center, and Yanbu, a port on the Red Sea.
asserted
defenses → say → Sea
It responded with hundreds of strikes on the Houthi-controlled areas in northern Yemen.
asserted
It → respond → Yemen
For their part, the Houthis insist they have no plans to attack shipping on the Red Sea and that their blockade applies only to Saudi Arabia — a move calculated to prevent the rise of an international effort to dislodge them.
asserted
blockade → insist → them
“They don’t want to attract international military operations,” said Mohammad al-Basha, founder of the Basha Report, a U.S.-based risk advisory.
asserted
Basha → want → Report
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
