Yemen's Houthis have long warned of their ability to close the Red Sea oil route, but have by and large stayed on the sidelines of the expanding Gulf regional conflict which is focused on Iran since Operation Epic Fury began.
Things began changing dramatically this month, however, after Saudi warplane incursions into Yemen - which bombed Sanaa International Airport on July 13 - in an effort to prevent an Iranian commercial jet from landing there.
The Houthis responded by sending missile and drones on Saudi Arabian airbases and infrastructure, opening up the possibility of renewed Saudi-Houthi war (hearkening back to the more intense war of the prior decade).
Houthi rhetoric is growing, related to the US-Israel war on Iran:
The leader of Yemen’s Houthi movement has denounced US and Israeli collaboration as the source of the problems in the Middle East.
In a televised address, Abdel-Malik al-Houthi also blamed Saudi leaders for advancing US and Israeli objectives in the region. “The United States and Israel are the source of evil and instability in the world,” al-Houthi said.
In a rare moment of the now long-running conflict, on Thursday reports have emerged that Tehran is actively requesting that the Houthis join the war in the scenario that Washington begins attacking Iran's power infrastructure.
This is after President Trump told Fox News on Tuesday evening that "Next week it gets really bad for them because next week comes the power plants."
"Next week comes the bridges. We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate," he warned.
But according to Reuters, Iran still has another escalatory card of its own to play:
Iran has asked Yemen’s Houthi rebels to stand ready to close the Red Sea oil route if the United States strikes Iranian power infrastructure, three sources told Reuters on Thursday, posing a potent new threat to global energy supplies.
The idea has been discussed within the Islamic Republic’s leadership, and the message has been conveyed to Iran’s Houthi allies, two senior Iranian sources and a regional source familiar with the matter said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The sources said the Houthis had been informed recently of Tehran’s request, which has not been previously reported.
It's long been reported that the Houthis have indeed been making preparations to attack shipping by deploying missiles and drones near Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which is the crucial entry point to the Red Sea.
This could obviously greatly exacerbate the global energy crisis - and would likely set off a new round of regional escalation - which might also see Houthi missiles once again targeting southern Israel, but also Saudi Arabia and the GCC allies.