Yemen’s surging Houthi fighters have taken over the strategic island of Perim in the Bab al-Mandab strait yesterday, further cementing their control of one of the world’s vital shipping routes. The pro-Iran militia seized the island after government forces backed by the UN and Saudi Arabia retreated hastily. It was the latest in a series of dramatic gains made by the Houthis along Yemen’s west coast in recent days, including the takeover of the port city of Mocha on September 10. Their rapid military advances along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast represent a key transformation in regional dynamics. By seizing control of Yemen's Red Sea shoreline, the Iranian-backed group has fundamentally shifted from harassing maritime traffic to exercising direct territorial control over one of the world's most critical maritime chokepoints.
Perim, also called Mayun, sits close to the strait's narrowest point, within five kilometres of the main shipping channels in a passage just 20km wide. The UAE had begun constructing an airbase on the island before pulling back from active involvement in the war earlier this year. Its departure left the island exposed at the moment the Houthis were best placed to take it.
The military logic is straightforward. The group previously relied on long-range missiles and drones fired from Hodeidah to disrupt shipping. Physical control of Perim and the surrounding coastline removes that constraint. Sea mines, short-range weapons and boarding operations become viable, placing commercial vessels within far easier reach at lower cost to the Houthis.
Combined with Iran's ongoing restrictions on movement through the Strait of Hormuz, the seizure gives Tehran and the Houthis simultaneous influence over the two main routes carrying Gulf energy and Asia-Europe trade to global markets. Analysts have noted that this dual leverage is without recent precedent.
Markets registered the shift quickly. Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, the kingdom's main route for bypassing Hormuz, was temporarily shut after drone strikes, and Saudi crude exports fell to a 13-year low. Brent crude rose above $108 a barrel. In the US, petrol prices crossed $4 a gallon and diesel rose above $6, with the effects reaching consumers within days. Treasury yields climbed on inflation concerns, and the International Energy Agency cut its global demand forecast by 2.5 million barrels a day.
The political cost has fallen on Yemen's internationally recognised government. The Presidential Leadership Council, backed by Riyadh, had spent months preparing for an anti-Houthi campaign along the coastal plains and projecting confidence about its prospects. Instead, its forces were routed across six districts in Taiz and Hodeidah within a matter of days. The defeat has triggered blame-shifting among anti-Houthi factions and exposed fragmentation that had been papered over in public statements. More than 46,000 civilians have been displaced in the space of a week.
For Saudi Arabia, the episode leaves few good options. Riyadh's Yemeni partners have shown they cannot defeat the Houthis militarily, and the group is now positioned to demand concessions that were not on the table a fortnight ago: state funding for public sector salaries in areas it controls, a share of Yemen's oil and gas revenue, and the removal of restrictions on Houthi-held ports and airports. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pressed President Trump for direct US military strikes against the Houthis. Trump declined, offering intelligence and targeting support instead, leaving Riyadh to choose between negotiating from weakness or mounting a costly campaign of its own.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, also approached Pakistan. But the response from Islamabad has been cautious. Pakistan is bound to Saudi Arabia and Turkey by the Mecca pact, a mutual defence arrangement that could in principle have obliged military support. Instead, Field Marshal Asim Munir held a series of unannounced talks with Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, opting for quiet diplomacy over a commitment that risked drawing Pakistan into a conflict it has no interest in joining.
None of this resolves the underlying standoff. The Houthis have gained territory and leverage without yet translating either into a formal settlement, and Saudi Arabia's calculus depends on options it does not currently have. Tehran has treated the advance as a strategic win. Senior Iranian officials have described the combined pressure on Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab as having forced Washington and its allies into a tactical impasse they cannot easily resolve.
