Houthi Forces Took a Red Sea Port, Putting a Second Chokepoint at Risk as the Hormuz Standoff Drags On
Fighters captured the Yemeni port of Mokha, near the Bab al-Mandeb strait — the route Saudi crude has been using to get around Hormuz. Oil still fell on Friday, closing just under $100.
By Sean Anees Saifi · Capital Wealth · Published Friday, September 11, 2026 · Source: The Wall Street Journal, September 11, 2026 edition
Key Points
Houthi forces captured the Yemeni port city of Mokha after days of fighting with Saudi-backed government troops, tightening their hold near the Bab al-Mandeb chokepoint.
Saudi oil exports had been rerouted overland to the Red Sea to work around Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which now puts both ends of the peninsula under pressure at once.
Fighters are also moving onto the nearby Hanish islands, and officials say they are close to controlling traffic along the strait; a missile-and-drone attack on Saudi energy facilities and a military base this week wounded dozens.
U.S. and Middle Eastern officials say Iran restarted ballistic-missile assembly underground, probably at a low rate since mid-June, despite a Pentagon assessment that up to 90% of its drone, missile and naval industrial base was destroyed.
Oil went the other way as the week ended: Brent jumped 6.3% to $107.63 on Thursday, then West Texas crude fell 2.4% to $99.99 and gasoline futures dropped 7.9%.
$99.99
WTI crude by Friday’s close
$107.63
Brent Thursday, up 6.3% on the day
−7.9%
Gasoline futures, Friday
+27.4%
Gasoline prices, past 12 months
Energy cargoes leaving the Red Sea pass through the Bab al-Mandeb strait, and Saudi crude has been routed there to avoid the Strait of Hormuz. Oil figures are Thursday’s close unless labeled otherwise.
In one line: A second Red Sea chokepoint is under threat while Hormuz stays shut, and oil still closed lower on Friday — which is why energy is held rather than traded.
There are two narrow places on the map of the Arabian Peninsula, and this week the war reached the second one. Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz is the reason Saudi crude has been traveling overland to the Red Sea instead. Now Houthi fighters have taken the Yemeni port city of Mokha, after days of fighting with Saudi-backed government forces, a short run up the coast from the Bab al-Mandeb strait at the mouth of that sea.
Both ends of the same peninsula
The advance isn’t symbolic. Houthi forces are moving onto the Hanish islands as well, and officials say they are close to controlling traffic along the strait. A missile-and-drone attack on Saudi energy facilities and a military base wounded dozens this week, and the fighting pulls Saudi Arabia back into a civil war it had spent years trying to leave — one that began when the Houthis seized Sana’a in 2014. Eighteen American service members have been killed since the war with Iran began. That is the register this story belongs in first, and the numbers below don’t change it.
The other half of the picture sits on the front page beside it. U.S. and Middle Eastern officials say Iran has restarted ballistic-missile assembly underground, probably at a low rate since mid-June, drawing on components stockpiled before the war — this against a Pentagon assessment that up to 90% of Iran’s drone, missile and naval industrial base was destroyed. Both can be true at once. Together they describe a conflict with no visible end date, and that is the part a barrel of oil has to price.
Why the energy sleeve was bought early
And yet oil fell. Brent jumped 6.3% to $107.63 on Thursday; by Friday’s close West Texas crude had slipped 2.4% to $99.99, back under $100, with gasoline futures down 7.9% on the day. That is the whole argument against trading this kind of news. Headlines about chokepoints arrive after the market has already moved, and often the move runs the other way. A portfolio doesn’t hold energy because anyone foresaw a port changing hands. It holds energy because a plan needs something that earns its keep when fuel is expensive — and the pump line in a household budget is up 27.4% over twelve months.
A hedge only works if it’s already owned. Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX) and Cheniere Energy (LNG) sit in the book for that job, sized long before this week, and nothing is being added on a war headline. If you don’t know what share of your portfolio moves with the price of a barrel, that’s a fifteen-minute answer — and a better time to get it is now, rather than the next time the map makes the front page.
What It Means For Your Portfolio
Hold — energy is a hedge already owned, not a trade to chase
Energy in a plan is insurance against the fuel line in a household budget, and insurance gets bought before the event — which is why a week like this one changes what is watched, not what is held.
General planning principles, not advice for anyone in particular: exposure meant to offset a risk works best when it is owned before that risk reaches the headlines. Energy is one of the few sectors whose fortunes tend to rise alongside the fuel and heating costs inside a household budget, which makes it a hedge on spending as much as a position in a portfolio.
In the book, Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) are held and Cheniere Energy (LNG) is held in 14 of the model portfolios — positions sized as a hedge well before this week’s fighting. Nothing is being added on a war headline, and the September letter’s conditions for new tactical buying were not met when Friday’s numbers arrived.
