Houthi Rebels Seize Red Sea Island As Saudi Arabia Shuts Key Oil Pipeline

Iran-backed Houthi rebels have captured the island of Mayun, also known as Perim, at the narrow mouth of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, opening a second front in the wider regional conflict and pushing Saudi Arabia to shut down one of its most important crude oil pipelines as a precaution.

A Second Chokepoint Under Pressure

The seizure was confirmed separately by a senior official with Yemen's internationally recognised government and by a Houthi representative, both speaking anonymously because they were not authorised to brief reporters. Mayun sits directly astride the shipping lanes at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, a corridor through which close to 12% of global trade typically passes. The island's capture gives the Houthis a further foothold over a route that has already become increasingly hazardous for commercial shipping, coming just days after the group took the nearby port city of Mocha.

A Houthi military spokesperson said in a statement that navigation would remain safe for shipping companies "except for Saudi vessels," a warning that has done little to calm nerves among insurers and traders already grappling with disruption on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula, where Iran's standoff with the United States has repeatedly threatened traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. A United Nations spokesperson also said Houthi fighters had taken over a compound in Mokha that had previously housed UN staff, all of whom were evacuated safely before the city fell.

Saudi Pipeline Shut As A Precaution

Separately, Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry said it had shut down its East-West pipeline, a roughly 1,200-kilometre link that has in recent months carried between four million and five million barrels of crude a day, after the line was struck by drones a day earlier. Riyadh did not publicly assign blame for the attack, but Iraq's government said it had opened an investigation into a military command post in Maysan province and removed its commander after concluding the strike had been launched from Iraqi territory.

The pipeline has taken on outsized importance for Saudi Arabia this year, since it offers an alternative outlet to the Red Sea for crude that might otherwise need to transit the Hormuz chokepoint. Exports through the Red Sea port at the pipeline's terminus have more than doubled since February, when US and Israeli strikes on Iran first set off the current wave of regional escalation, according to International Energy Agency figures.

Markets And Diplomacy React

The combined pressure on shipping routes on both sides of the Arabian Peninsula has helped push global crude benchmarks back above the $100-a-barrel mark, a level that traders had hoped was behind them as earlier talks over de-escalating the Hormuz standoff showed signs of progress. Those talks now appear overshadowed by the fast-moving developments in the Red Sea.

Diplomatic efforts continue on a separate track: Iran's foreign ministry said a regional meeting involving Gulf Arab states, including Oman and Iraq, is planned for Monday in Oman to discuss shipping arrangements in the Strait of Hormuz. Whether that meeting can also address the newer flashpoint at Bab el-Mandeb remains unclear, and analysts have repeatedly cautioned that Houthi battlefield decisions have proven difficult to predict or negotiate around.

For now, the twin disruptions leave two of the world's most strategically important waterways simultaneously under strain, a combination that energy analysts say could keep upward pressure on oil prices and shipping insurance costs well beyond the immediate news cycle.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.