Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels have captured the Red Sea port city of Mocha, UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said. The advance brings the group closer to the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a key outlet for Saudi oil exports to Asia since the US-Iran war disrupted shipments through the strait of Hormuz.
The capture of Mocha gives the Houthis "a direct presence on the approaches to one of the world's most vital straits", Grundberg said. "This development is raising serious concerns within the international community about the threat to freedom of navigation."
Mocha lies around 75km north of Bab el-Mandeb, the chokepoint linking the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
The offensive is part of Yemen's civil war, which re-erupted in July and pits the Houthis against Yemen's Saudi-backed government.
Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on its Red Sea export route since the US-Iran conflict disrupted shipping through the strait of Hormuz. Crude transported across the kingdom through the 7mn b/d East-West pipeline can load at Yanbu on the Red Sea coast without passing through Hormuz, although tankers heading from there to Asia must still transit Bab el-Mandeb.
The Houthis have sought to disrupt the Bab el-Mandeb route by attacking Saudi oil tankers and targeting infrastructure including the East-West pipeline, facilities at Yanbu and the 400,000 b/d Jizan refinery.
As a result, Saudi Red Sea oil exports through Bab el-Mandeb fell from almost 4mn b/d in June to just over 200,000 b/d in August, according to Kpler. Saudi Arabia is now seeking to send more Red Sea crude north through the Suez Canal and Egypt's Sumed pipeline, as well as through the strait of Hormuz.
The scope for an immediate further decline in Saudi flows is limited, as shipments through Bab el-Mandeb had already fallen sharply before the capture of Mocha. The broader impact will depend on how other shipowners respond.
The Houthis have advanced further along Yemen's western coast in recent days and appear to be seeking control of Dhubab and Perim island, which sits at the narrowest point of the Bab el-Mandeb strait.
Analysts say the capture of territory around the chokepoint would allow the Houthis to disrupt shipping more easily and help Iran put further pressure on international shipping as part of the US-Iran war.
The Houthis have said their offensive is not aimed at constraining international shipping.
"We reassure you that our armed forces are disciplined, and there is no source of danger to navigation security except from the reckless actions of the Saudi enemy," " the head of the Houthis' Supreme Political Council Mahdi al-Mashat said.
The group previously caused major disruption to shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb strait between 2023 and 2025 in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war.
