Houthis take the Red Sea chokepoint, Iran now grips both ends of the Gulf

Houthi forces have seized Mocha and pushed on to Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, giving Iran-aligned fighters practical control over the exit from the Red Sea just as Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, the main bypass for Hormuz, was knocked offline by drone strikes launched from Iraq, according to Reuters. That leaves Iran and its proxies with leverage over both of the Arabian Peninsula's oil corridors at once, not just one. The IEA now expects global oil supply to fall 5.7 million barrels a day short of 2025 levels, roughly 6%, and says normal Gulf flows may not return until 2027. Brent has already pushed past $100 a barrel. Every extra week of dual-chokepoint risk gets priced into freight, insurance and diesel before it shows up in headline inflation figures.