Houthis Emerge as Iran’s Dominant Regional Ally, Amplifying Tehran’s Strategic Leverage in Energy Choke Points

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Oct. 01, 2026, 2:54 p.m. ET

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5 min read

Commentators in Iran’s hard‑line press have praised Yemen’s Houthi militia for a rapid offensive that has thrust the group into the forefront of Middle‑East conflicts. The Houthis, formally known as Ansarullah, have targeted Saudi Arabia and seized control of a second critical global energy conduit, complementing Iran’s dominance of the Strait of Hormuz.

Ansarullah is a core component of Iran’s regional “Axis of Resistance.” With Israel’s repeated strikes having weakened other key Axis partners—Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza—the Houthis have in recent weeks assumed the alliance’s most potent role. Their actions now choke both the Hormuz and the Bab el‑Mandeb straits, intensifying pressure on global oil markets as the U.S.–Israeli campaign against Tehran enters its seventh month.

“Ansarullah’s show of force creates a powerful lever for Iran against President Trump,” wrote the hard‑line Kayhan newspaper this week. “Whenever Trump contemplates renewing the war with Iran, he is reminded that, alongside Hormuz, there is also the Bab el‑Mandeb within Iran’s sphere of power and action.”

Even as the Houthis become Iran’s most influential regional ally, the militia that Iran has spent years bolstering appears only modestly responsive to Iranian direction. Iranian officials and state media often portray Houthi gains as Iranian achievements, and the group’s actions have indeed enhanced Tehran’s bargaining power. Yet analysts argue that a decade of Iranian investment in Houthi missile and drone capabilities does not translate into direct command over the militia.

“The Yemeni militia is far from being a proxy force and is not as beholden to Iran—or as willing to follow Tehran’s wishes—as Hezbollah was, when it served as Iran’s most powerful regional ally,” they note. “Iran would have been in a much stronger position had Ansarullah blocked Bab el‑Mandeb in February 2026, dealing a major shock to energy markets and to gas prices in the United States,” says Ali Alfoneh, an Iran expert at the Arab Gulf States Institute.

Al Joumhouriya TV/Reuters

In an image taken from video, damage from Houthi strikes is seen in the port city of Mocha, Yemen, Aug. 10, 2026. The militia group now controls most of the country’s Red Sea coastline.

It took Tehran “considerable time and effort” to persuade the Houthis to act against Saudi Arabia and restrict Red Sea shipping, Mr. Alfoneh says. “One could argue that, in the end, Ansarullah acted more out of self‑interest than to accommodate Tehran.” The group’s earlier reluctance to join the war promptly “hampered Iran’s war strategy.”

“There appears to be considerable relief [in Iran] that Ansarullah has finally risen to the task,” says Mr. Alfoneh. “But there also must be some disappointment in IRGC circles that for so long it stayed out of the war, limiting itself to symbolic strikes against Israel.”

“Strongest Iranian ally in the region”

The Houthis’ advance has brought all of Yemen’s western Red Sea coastline under their control and forced Saudi‑backed government troops to withdraw from Mocha Port and key Red Sea islands. The militia declared a blockade of Saudi ships on July 20 and has since targeted seven vessels.

“When we talk about their military improvements and weapons, it is always about Iran,” says Maysaa Shujaa al‑Deen, a Yemen expert with the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies, speaking from Manama, Bahrain.

“The Iranians improved their capabilities; they trained them how to make and assemble the pieces of the missiles,” she says. “The smuggling networks between the Houthis and Iran never stopped.”

The Houthis “are keen to be part of the Axis of Resistance and…always have that ambition to play a regional role,” says Ms. al‑Deen. Seven weeks of U.S. bombing in 2025—burning through $1 billion worth of ordnance—failed to weaken the Houthis’ ideological resolve or their territorial grip.

“The Houthis have geography, they almost have a state, they have a population under their control, they have economic resources,” says Ms. Deen. “They are the strongest Iranian ally in the region right now.”

Recent Houthi strikes have damaged the East‑West pipeline that Saudi Arabia used as a workaround to Iran’s control over the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthi blockade of Saudi ships in the Red Sea—vessels of other nations are free to travel, they say—has also restricted that alternative route.

Ebrahim Al-Suhaibi/Reuters

Members of the Saudi‑backed Yemeni government forces ride on a military vehicle as they patrol a road leading to the front line with Iran‑aligned Houthi fighters, in Taiz province, Yemen, Sept. 30, 2026.

Gregory Gause, an associate fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington, argues that the Houthis “are ideologically committed to Iran’s project in the region.”

“The idea,” he says, “is that, if Iran is defeated, they are defeated.”

Appeals in Iran’s media

While the Houthis have proved especially resilient within the Axis, they also remain notably independent from Tehran. Some Iranian media outlets have begun publishing messages aimed at encouraging the Houthis to become more cooperative team members.

“The solution for Ansarullah is to stop operating as an isolated military and political player, and see itself as part of a larger system, the Axis of Resistance, in which the security and interests of each component are tied to those of the others,” wrote Tasnim, an IRGC‑linked news outlet, in early September.

Nevertheless, the benefits of more than a decade of military assistance and training from the IRGC Quds Force, which manages overseas operations, are evident to the Houthis.

“Even in small battles, the Houthis have not hesitated to fire 100 missiles,” says Ms. al‑Deen of the Sana’a Center. “If they can do this in a small battle, it means they are not afraid to lose their stockpile.”

The Houthis have also adopted sophisticated tactics. During the latest advance, for example, they used artificial intelligence to imitate a government commander’s voice, issuing fake withdrawal orders that “caused big chaos in the front lines,” says Ms. al‑Deen.

But Houthi intelligence capabilities appear limited. Saudi targets struck so far are easily visible on Google Maps. “Until now, we have had nothing that [Houthis] have hit that is hidden…that we can say is based on intelligence information,” she says.

Nevertheless, the shifting battlefield in Yemen yields a tangible advantage for Iran.

“For Iran, Yemen has always been a low‑cost, high‑yield investment,” says Mr. Alfoneh, the AGSI analyst. The current Houthi offensive “significantly strengthens Tehran’s negotiating position vis‑à‑vis Washington.”

An Iranian researcher contributed to this report.

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