The Iran-backed Houthi militant group has taken control of Mokha, a port city on Yemen’s Red Sea coast, a move that analysts say hands Tehran another point of leverage in its months-long conflict with the United States while intensifying pressure on one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints.
The Associated Press reported the seizure on Thursday, citing Yemeni and Houthi officials. CNBC said it could not independently confirm the account.
Mokha sits roughly 75 kilometers (46 miles) north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow waterway linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and, beyond it, global markets. The city is also the namesake of Mocha coffee.
Why the chokepoint matters more now
Bab el-Mandeb’s strategic weight has climbed sharply since the U.S. and Israel went to war with Iran in late February, according to the report. With that conflict disrupting established routes, the strait has become an alternative channel for crude heading toward Asia.
The concern now is that the Houthis’ advance could reshape trade flows well beyond the region, especially if the group escalates threats or attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
Hamish Kinnear, principal Middle East and North Africa analyst at risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft, described the capture of Mokha as a “major blow” to Saudi Arabia because it opens the door to the Houthis tightening their hold on Bab el-Mandeb.
“The Houthis were already threatening Saudi shipping from previous positions, but their capture of Mocha opens up the possibility of further advances towards the Bab el-Mandeb coastline and a tighter grip on the chokepoint,” Kinnear said in a research note.
Oil markets feel the strain
Crude prices slipped Friday morning, but both major benchmarks remained on track to finish the week above $100 a barrel for the first time since mid-May.
Brent crude futures for November delivery traded 2.1% lower at $105.37 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate contracts for October were down 1.7% at $100.76.
Strategists at ING said the oil market’s resilience is being tested as traders come to terms with a clearer picture of the threat to regional supply, prompting a repricing of both how long the conflict might last and how severe its impact could be.
Flows through the Strait of Hormuz are still moving, the ING strategists noted, but remain well below pre-war levels — a gap that underscores how fragile the situation has become.
“Saudi energy infrastructure and crude oil exports from the Red Sea are increasingly at risk, with the Houthis in Yemen targeting Saudi Arabia,” ING analysts Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a note published Friday.
They added that the Houthis’ takeover of Mokha has increased the threat to shipping around Bab el-Mandeb.
Kinnear, for his part, said both Tehran and Washington appear convinced that time favors them, making a near-term truce unlikely. Until that changes, he expects oil and gas prices — and refined products such as diesel in particular — to keep grinding higher, even if U.S. convoys and alternative export routes out of Hormuz soften the blow.
Source: www.cnbc.com — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/11/iran-houthis-mokha-red-sea-yemen.html
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