Iranian allies captured a strategic Red Sea island in a vital waterway. Here’s what to know

Iran-backed rebels in Yemen captured the strategic Perim Island in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait on Friday, two Yemeni government sources told CNN, potentially expanding Tehran’s influence over another key global shipping route.

A day earlier, the Houthi group captured the port town of Mocha as it sought to take control of the country’s Red Sea coast. The news sent shockwaves worldwide over the possible impact on shipping and oil prices, as well as the risk of a new front opening in the US-Iran war. Bab al-Mandeb is a chokepoint linking Asia and Europe via the Red Sea and Suez Canal. Although less critical to the oil trade than the Strait of Hormuz, it carries essential goods worldwide, including millions of barrels of oil each day.Its strategic importance has grown since the US-Iran war began, as Saudi Arabia increasingly uses its Red Sea export route to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively closed to most shipping. The development coincides with a wider regional escalation of the war between Iran and the United States, after Tehran warned this week that it would step up hostilities against the US, which maintains a stringent naval blockade of Iran and continues to launch military strikes on the country.