Another Pivotal Shipping Strait is Captured | Drudge Retort

Saturday, September 12, 2026

Another Pivotal Shipping Strait is Captured

The Houthi advance is bad news for the U.S., and even worse news for Saudi Arabia.

Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 09:09 AM | 43 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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Iran-backed Houthis seized Mocha and are now closing in on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a chokepoint that carries a quarter of the world's oil. This is a major development.[image or embed]
" MeidasTouch (@meidastouch.com) 10:12 AM Sep 10, 2026

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"As recently as last week, the Iran war appeared to be turning slightly in America's favor," writes Robert Worth. "The Houthis - the Yemen-based militia that is Iran's most formidable remaining ally in the Middle East - were under pressure from their local rivals, and the Saudi air force was pounding them with air strikes. The president of Yemen's internationally recognized government issued a triumphant statement declaring that the Houthis' miscalculations will open the door to their complete collapse.' With their Houthi partners wounded, Iran's leaders would have one more reason to back down and agree to Donald Trump's terms."

Yesterday morning, those delusions drifted away like smoke as Houthi forces broke through their enemies' defenses and seized the towns and islands around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the most important maritime choke points in the world.

That loss leaves Trump, who had been hoping to win back control of the Strait of Hormuz from Iran, with a bitter surprise. His enemies now control both of the two important straits in the Middle East, through which a combined total of about a third of the world's oil shipments pass every day.

#1 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-09-12 05:43 AM | Reply

"When one door closes another door opens, and then it also closes and still another door opens until it, too, closes and ... ."

(Apologies to Alexander Graham Bell.)

#2 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-09-12 07:52 AM | Reply

The United States has the most effective Navy in the world. This sharp instrument is not being used correctly. The issue is a failure of leadership. I know that SOMEBODY is thinking about the war, but it's not Donald Trump. The purge of military leaders was in part undertaken so that Donald and Pete have no one of standing left to critique their lack of energy, competence, or plan.

So what have we got? A MAGA military that stands around making mean faces at people and things while pretending the United States is, at this moment in time, exceptional.

We aren't exceptional now. We are being hag-ridden by preening, racist, losers. We are getting what we deserve until we do something about it. The midterms are only the start of getting rid of this cancer.

#3 | Posted by Zed at 2026-09-12 08:54 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Donald Trump has ample stage in which to display his genius. If he can stay awake. If he can really understand what day of the week this is. If he can distract his increasingly rare attention from architectural projects. If he can acknowledge that there is a God, and it's not him.

But the world knows he cannot and will not do any of these things. He is 250 or more pounds of dead weight around the necks of the rest of us. He is one of those characters in life for whom the rationale to have ever been born is obscure.

We get nowhere, we have nothing, with him and MAGA. Support for them is support for the eventual extinction of this country.

#4 | Posted by Zed at 2026-09-12 09:26 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Greatest POTUS everrrrrr!

#5 | Posted by e1g1 at 2026-09-12 09:38 AM | Reply

The point for meaningful negotiations was reached long ago. That's the problem for Americans"they elected a petulant child who thinks bullying is an appropriate approach to complex problems. This mess started when Der Dotard walked from the agreement reached by the Obama administration and its negotiating partners and the present administration will not admit to its mistake. Further, our former allies prefer to suffer a bit and watch the fat orange criminal insurrectionist twist in the wind.

Remember about America First! America Alone! Because that's where we are now thanks, MAGA and GOP toadies in Congress and the Senate ...

#6 | Posted by catdog at 2026-09-12 09:51 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

I'd say a new front has opened up in our special military operation.

The Saudi and US backed Yemeni military said they'd destroy the Houthis, now they're in retreat with Houthis expected to follow them east.

#7 | Posted by horstngraben at 2026-09-12 10:21 AM | Reply

For those not paying attention Piggy's war is slowly inexorably expanding.

Thanks magat scum

#8 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-09-12 10:23 AM | Reply

All right all right all right... Stop the winning... I am sick of winning.

#9 | Posted by RightisTrite at 2026-09-12 10:56 AM | Reply

Iran has been preparing for this conflict for over 40 years. After 9-11 they knew it was just a matter of time until Zionists and the MIC found someone stupid and compromised enough in the WH to take the bait.

Meanwhile China continues to turn circles around America in everything and wake up each morning in awe of their sudden good fortune.

#10 | Posted by pumpkinhead at 2026-09-12 11:10 AM | Reply

Christ how the world would be different if Gore and Hillary had won.

#11 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-09-12 11:17 AM | Reply

I wouldn't say so for Gore- he was a serviceable pawn, but Hillary definitely deserves some of the blame for the current situation America finds itself.

#12 | Posted by pumpkinhead at 2026-09-12 11:56 AM | Reply

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait will open naturally.

~ Pedo 47 ~

#13 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2026-09-12 12:11 PM | Reply

Right,

"All right all right all right... Stop the winning... I am sick of winning."

Is this a play on words, or just a spelling mistake?

It's actually clever.

#14 | Posted by BillJohnson at 2026-09-12 12:20 PM | Reply

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait will open naturally.

Now now.. use the correct American name.

The American Straits of el-America.

#15 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-09-12 12:21 PM | Reply

U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday that Iran-backed Houthis had asked Washington not to intervene and did not want to fight the United States. "They don't want us to go after them," Trump told reporters in Dublin, Ireland

... wut?

#16 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2026-09-12 12:34 PM | Reply

No question the USMC would steamroll Perim Island, but then you have to occupy it indefinitely. Those haven't worked out for us in awhile.

#17 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2026-09-12 12:35 PM | Reply

A f***-up of epic proportions': Blame game begins after Iran-backed Huthis' lightning advance down Red Sea coast
www.egyptindependent.com

... The desperate pleas for air cover from Yemeni generals started coming mid-morning on Thursday. An advance by the Iran-backed Huthis toward Yemen's strategic port city of Mocha was in full swing, and backup support from chief ally Saudi Arabia was nowhere in sight.

"The Huthis committed everything they had " waves upon waves of fighters ... along with their available ballistic missiles and weapons," a senior Yemeni source attached to their military forces told CNN. The source said he contacted the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) and was assured the US was "watching the situation closely and that Saudi air support was coming."

"But the air support never came," the source said. "And Mocha has now fallen."

Hours later, on Friday, the Huthis captured another key coastal asset, Perim Island, at the mouth of the Red Sea. The island splits the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in two, giving Tehran de facto control over another key shipping route.

The Huthis' rapid advance amounts to an extraordinary 36 hours in a conflict that had been largely on ice for years. But the kindling for renewed fighting had been laid for months amid the conflict between the United States and Iran, as Tehran seeks to use oil prices -- and their impact on the global economy -- as leverage.

Now, Yemen and the Red Sea have the potential to become a true second front in the Iran war. ...

#18 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-09-12 12:39 PM | Reply

@#16 ... ... wut? ...

My guess is that Pres Trump is desperately looking for an exit ramp for his war of choice and, as such, he does not want to get deeper into the war.

#19 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-09-12 12:42 PM | Reply

"but then you have to occupy it indefinitely"

No worries!

Just put Rubio in charge of the occupation.

I'm sure he has some room left on his calendar now that he is down to 2 jobs from his previous 4 jobs.

#20 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-09-12 12:43 PM | Reply

Pedo 47 Loses the Other Strait

politicalwire.com

#21 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2026-09-12 12:45 PM | Reply

"No question the USMC would steamroll Perim Island, but then you have to occupy it "

A very 20th century, Russian way of thinking.
Drones would quickly make mincemeat of those unfortunate marines whose intellectually stunted leadership chose to trap them on an island like sitting ducks ... and for nothing.

#22 | Posted by pumpkinhead at 2026-09-12 12:49 PM | Reply

Hillary would have been worse. She would still attack countries without roths central banking, cackling the whole time, and raise taxes at home as well.

#23 | Posted by john_savage2 at 2026-09-12 12:49 PM | Reply

Daddysfist's child-raping hero hid in a food cart.LOL

#24 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2026-09-12 12:50 PM | Reply

I think Spengler was right.
A culture, a nation or civilization is an organism in it's own, with a life-cycle like any other organism.
USA is geriatric, for the remainder of it's life it will exist as a debt slave until all resources are exhausted.
Similar to a nursing home resident, kept barely alive at enormous cost.

#25 | Posted by john_savage2 at 2026-09-12 12:55 PM | Reply

It's all so Saturnian.
The only durable structure is not a culture, but a parasitic cabal that survives by feeding off of young cultures in succession, sucking them dry and moving on to the next.

#26 | Posted by john_savage2 at 2026-09-12 01:00 PM | Reply

Drones would quickly make mincemeat of those unfortunate marines

#22 | Posted by pumpkinhead at 2026-09-12 12:49 PM | Reply | Flag:

You underestimate the marines. They're the most successful island conquering force in history, even against massively concentrated, nearly invincible entrenched artillery in an impenetrable mountain. They still won. They have drones too, and drone defenses, and their own aviation wing, and a Navy that's already extensively battled the Houthi. They would steam roll it.

They'd be mincemeat holding it, that's when the drones would matter.

#27 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2026-09-12 01:03 PM | Reply

Says the desiccated pissant who sucks off pedo 47.

#28 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2026-09-12 01:03 PM | Reply

I would not worry about the Marines. They can handle whatever job you assign them. If you give them a clear mission and the tools and support they need they will get the job done. But you are right that the Marines job is just to take the ground. It's up to the rest of the Defense Dept to hold it.

So I would not worry about the Marines. They can certainly take the Island.

But I would worry about the Deciderer who has their lives in his tiny sweaty hands and his total lack of strategic intelligence and incompetence.

#29 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-09-12 01:14 PM | Reply

Is stinky still contemplating give nukes to bone saw?

#30 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2026-09-12 01:16 PM | Reply

Watched a few videos of the Houthis and they're mostly in sandals, or bare foot, saggy clothes, and Soviet era AKs and they're kicking the --- the US-Saudi backed Yemeni army.

They could have said the videos were from Afghanistan after we left and I wouldn't know the difference. I even watched them inspecting recovered US hardware left behind from the fleeing Yemeni army.

If we can't enough allies to fight for their own country in any meaningful way, we should leave the region.

As far as the Saudis go, I understand asking the US for help since we're the ones that kicked the shia wasp nest. But the Saudis have, at least on paper, a respectable military with around 400 fighter jets. Let them Saudis at least give it the old college try. After all, blowing stuff up with planes comes naturally to them.

Sounds like Trump wants to get along with the Houthis, which honestly, I can get behind. We should get along with the Iranians too, or at least just leave them alone.

#31 | Posted by horstngraben at 2026-09-12 01:25 PM | Reply

Am I the only person that remembers what happened to the Saudi army last time they directly fought the Houthi?

They rolled in with export M1 tanks. The Houthis destroyed them with Russian anti-tank missiles.

#32 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2026-09-12 01:49 PM | Reply

I was assured that the Saudi pipeline made the Strait of Hormuz obsolete

Seems I was right, again

#33 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-09-12 01:50 PM | Reply

You were assured there would be continual development of workarounds.

#34 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2026-09-12 01:52 PM | Reply

You could even say the Saudis are having a real come to jesus moment on having more and more workarounds to build.

#35 | Posted by sitzkrieg at 2026-09-12 01:53 PM | Reply

LOL

workarounds

LOL

is there a workaround that is immune to drone attack?

#36 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-09-12 01:59 PM | Reply

come to mohammed it would seem more apropos

#37 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-09-12 01:59 PM | Reply

This Monday the Gulf states will be meeting with Iran, apparently, to reach separate agreements to end the fighting.

We are not participating.

Our allies are abandoning us

Saudi Arabia came hat in hand begging Piggy to help them against the Houthis

Piggy said no

Saudi Arabia communicated to the Iranian militias in Iraq that they wouldn't retaliate for the attack on their pipeline

A high ranking naval officer admitted that our base in Bahrain was destroyed and there is no plan to repair it.

Iran's proxy in Yemen seems to be on the brink of seizing control of that country.

To sum up, we have lost the initiative, Iran has seized the initiative. Iran is projecting power throughout the regions. We are fleeing from the region. Our "allies" are looking for a separate peace. Iran and it's proxies control 2 of the 3 exits from the ME for oil. Saudi Arabia's oil is cutoff

this is what defeat looks like

We are losing, shit we have LOST this war. Badly

#38 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-09-12 02:05 PM | Reply

Piggy said the war would be over right after the election.

You do understand what that means, right?

Piggy will escalate the war at that point as the mid-terms will be behind him. If he loses the Senate and House, he will have 2 months to expand the war.

That could include tactical nukes.

Thanks magat scum

#39 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-09-12 02:08 PM | Reply

Saudi Arabia has few options as it faces mounting threats from Iran and its allies
www.politico.com

... A lightning advance by Houthi rebels threatens a crucial Red Sea shipping route. Drone attacks blamed on Iraqi militias have forced the closure of a major pipeline, and Iran is still disrupting the Strait of Hormuz.

It's a nightmare scenario for Saudi Arabia, and it has sent jitters through global markets.

The Saudis' most essential ally, the United States, has been unpredictable and sometimes unreliable. U.S. President Donald Trump seems reluctant to widen an already unpopular and stalemated Mideast war ahead of congressional elections. For Iran, the rebels' advance and closure of the pipeline ramp up global economic pressure as its grip over the Strait of Hormuz has been loosened. ...

#40 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-09-12 02:15 PM | Reply

John,

"USA is geriatric, for the remainder of its life it will exist as a debt slave until all resources are exhausted."

That's a pretty absolute prediction for a future that is becoming increasingly difficult to predict. The US has debt and resource problems, but history has shown that nothing is permanent.

My opinion is that we shouldn't underestimate the next generation's ability to find solutions appropriate to the times. Every generation inherits problems that the previous generation didn't fix or actually caused.

Don't believe everything you think.

#41 | Posted by BillJohnson at 2026-09-12 02:16 PM | Reply

Truth,

"That could include tactical nukes."

Your previous post was pretty good until you decided to throw tactical nukes into it.

That's where you stopped making a reasonable argument and started just making shit up and trying to scare everyone.

#42 | Posted by BillJohnson at 2026-09-12 02:31 PM | Reply

If you don't think there is a non-zero chance piggy would use nuke you're well an idiot but that is a well known fact

#43 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-09-12 02:54 PM | Reply

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