# The Houthis Take Mokha, and a Second Front Opens

> A port town 80km from Bab el-Mandeb just changed hands, and with it, the leverage over 12% of world trade.
- Title: The Houthis Take Mokha, and a Second Front Opens · TIME
- Summary: A port town 80km from Bab el-Mandeb just changed hands, and with it, the leverage over 12% of world trade. Mokha is not about Yemen alone. It hands Iran a…
- Keywords: yemen, houthis, red sea, shipping, iran, Take, Mokha, Second, Front, Opens, TIME
- Source: TIME — https://time.com/article/2026/09/11/yemen-houthi-red-sea-bab-el-mandeb-shipping-iran-war
- Author: Miranda Jeyaretnam
- Published: 2026-09-11T10:25:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: yemen, houthis, red sea, shipping, iran
## Mokha falls
Iran-aligned Houthi rebels swept south along the Red Sea coast and took the port city of Mokha from Saudi-backed government forces on Thursday, then reached the Hanish archipelago.
## The biggest gain since 2022
This is the most territory the Houthis have seized since the cease-fire that paused major fighting with Yemen's government four years ago.
## The truce is over
Government forces fell back toward Dhubab. Al-Masirah TV reported 40 Saudi-backed airstrikes across Taiz, Jawf, Hodeida and Marib, and residents fear full civil war returning.

> This renewed war should alarm us all.
## Eighty kilometres from the strait
Mokha sits just north of Bab el-Mandeb, the waterway carrying roughly 12% of global trade. Holding the port makes threatening that traffic far easier.
## Tehran's fingerprints
The IRGC reportedly supplied weapons and direct guidance, and told the Houthis last week to escalate against Saudi Arabia. Iran's line in public: the Houthis are "not a proxy."

> not a proxy
## Saudi oil is already bleeding
Since the July 20 blockade, Saudi crude exports hit a 13-year low, production fell 23% from July to August, and Bab el-Mandeb traffic dropped about 24% in a week.
## Two chokepoints to guard
With Hormuz effectively shut, Washington may have to defend a second strait and prop up Riyadh, just as Trump promises the war ends right after November's midterms.
## Key takeaway

Mokha is not about Yemen alone. It hands Iran a second maritime chokepoint to squeeze, right as the Strait of Hormuz is already closed.