“Their presence ensures entrenchment,” noted Hisham al-Omeisi, a senior analyst at the Brussels-based European Institute of Peace, speaking to the BBC. “Dislodging them will prove significantly more expensive.”
The Houthis do not operate in isolation. They benefit from Iranian backing, which has grown increasingly vital for Tehran following the setbacks and defeats suffered by other factions within its so-called “Axis of Resistance,” including Lebanese Hezbollah, Hamas in Gaza, and the Assad regime in Syria.
“Consequently, Tehran redirected its support toward the Houthis,” al-Omeisi added. “And naturally, they require this backing.”
Although most analysts caution against dismissing the Houthis as mere Iranian puppets, recent developments reveal an uncomfortable new reality.
Seven months following the massive, combined assault on Iran by the United States and Israel, the Tehran regime now exercises control over not just one, but two of the world’s most crucial maritime passages: the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, and the Bab al-Mandab, the gateway to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal.
“Iran now commands two of the most strategic choke points in the Middle East and globally, both directly and through proxies,” stated Farea al-Muslimi, a research fellow at London’s Chatham House think tank, “overseeing more than 35 percent of the world’s fuel and oil trade.”
“This provides leverage equivalent to possessing a nuclear weapon,” he remarked.
