A key oil strait has come under Houthi control | WSJ

The video explains that, in a surprise offensive last week, the Iran-backed Houthis effectively seized almost all of Yemen's western coast and the area around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. It describes the Houthis as rebels who have controlled most of Yemen's population for more than 10 years, operate with support and funding from the Iranian regime, and proclaim slogans hostile to the United States and Israel. It says the strait is a vital artery for global trade and crude oil, through which more than 400 ten thousand barrels passed daily at peak levels, and that the Houthis captured a coffee-trading port and Perim Island, covering 5 square miles, securing positions from which to control the waterway. It reports that, after the start of the Iran war blocked shipments through Hormuz, Saudi Arabia transported crude oil through its Red Sea pipeline, but the Houthis resumed attacks on tankers departing Saudi Red Sea ports, and Saudi energy facilities came under large-scale attack. It explains that damage from drones originating in Iraq last Friday shut down the East-West Pipeline, which can transport up to 700 ten thousand barrels daily, and that Saudi crude oil production fell to its lowest level in more than 30 years. It says the Saudi crown prince asked Trump to expand intervention, but the United States, citing its experience of a ceasefire after 53 days of airstrikes last year, is providing only intelligence and targeting advice rather than carrying out direct strikes. With the Houthis declaring that they will prevent Saudi crude oil from passing through the strait and threatening further strikes on Saudi territory, Brent crude has exceeded 100 dollars per barrel, and the video anticipates that Iran will use this as leverage in the war. All assessments of future direction are the speaker's conditional judgments, not definitive predictions of short-term prices.