# Houthi Advance Puts Two Oil Chokepoints in Play > Houthi forces seized the Bab el-Mandeb islands and hit Saudi Arabia, and the talks meant to calm the region fell apart the same day. - Title: Houthi Advance Puts Two Oil Chokepoints in Play | Shortify - Summary: Houthi forces seized the Bab el-Mandeb islands and hit Saudi Arabia, and the talks meant to calm the region fell apart the same day. With Hormuz closed and… - Keywords: houthis, oil, saudi arabia, iran, red sea, Houthi, Advance, Puts, Two, Chokepoints, Play, Foreign Policy - Source: Foreign Policy — https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/09/14/houthi-strikes-yemen-red-sea-saudi-arabia-iran-east-west-oil-pipeline - Author: Alexandra Sharp - Published: 2026-09-15T00:00:00+00:00 - Read time: 3 min - Topics: houthis, oil, saudi arabia, iran, red sea ## Trump says Iran wants out On Monday the U.S. president posted that Tehran is desperate to end the war and that Washington is open to a deal. Nothing on the ground backed that up. > The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly ## The Gulf states disagreed The same day, Gulf Arab governments postponed their scheduled negotiations with Tehran. The reason was a fresh round of Houthi missiles aimed at Saudi Arabia. ## A lightning offensive in Yemen Yemen's Iranian-backed rebels moved fast against the Saudi-led coalition propping up the recognized government, taking ground rather than just firing at it. ## Mokha falls first Houthi forces seized the Red Sea port city of Mokha on Thursday, the opening move of the sweep down Yemen's western coast. ## Then the islands Perim Island, Greater and Lesser Hanish, Zuqar Island and the coastal town of Dhubab followed. Each one sits on or beside the shipping lane. ## Bab el-Mandeb is theirs now That chain of captures locks in Houthi control of the strait linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, the main alternative route when Hormuz is closed. ## Dozens of missiles on Khamis Mushait The Houthis fired missiles and drones at a military airbase in southern Saudi Arabia on Monday. Riyadh pushed out emergency alerts to residents. ## Brent hits $108 Oil jumped roughly 4 percent on the news, with Brent crude touching a nearly four-month high before easing back. ## The pipeline is still down Saudi Arabia's 750-mile East-West pipeline shut last week after drone strikes. Riyadh says the trail leads to Iran-backed militias in Iraq. ## Why that pipeline matters It lets one of the world's biggest exporters move crude to market without sending a single tanker through the Strait of Hormuz. It has been the workaround all war. ## Production cuts are next If the line stays shut, Saudi exports shrink and the kingdom may have to throttle output, squeezing an energy market that is already stretched thin. ## The White House says relax Trump insisted crude is still moving through Hormuz and promised prices would collapse the moment the fighting stops. Traders are not buying it. > Oil will drop like a rock as soon as the Military Conflict with Iran is over. ## Keep the oil He also floated the United States staying in Iran to hold its oil, modeled on the arrangement Washington struck with Venezuela after its military operation there earlier this year. > stay and keep the oil ## Muscat talks called off Oman said the Monday meeting with Iranian and regional officials was postponed "in the interests of consensus," the diplomatic phrasing for a room that could not agree. > in the interests of consensus ## A ship hit, a split exposed The postponement landed alongside a deadly strike on an Iranian commercial vessel, a sign Gulf states still have no shared plan for the sea lanes. ## Two chokepoints, one crisis Hormuz has been shut since the U.S. and Israeli strikes in late February. With Bab el-Mandeb now contested and the pipeline offline, Saudi crude has nowhere easy to go. ## Key takeaway With Hormuz closed and Bab el-Mandeb now under Houthi guns, Saudi Arabia's backup route out of the Gulf is the East-West pipeline, and that pipeline is down.