REUTERS, Aden

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement, whose attacks on the Red Sea caused international shipping and trade chaos during the Gaza war, stands ready to strike the key waterway again in solidarity with Tehran, one Houthi leader told Reuters, a move that would deepen a global oil and economic crisis brought on by the Middle East war.

If Houthis open a new front, one obvious target would be the Bab al-Mandab Strait off Yemen’s coast, a key shipping chokepoint and narrow passageway that controls sea traffic towards the Suez Canal after Iran effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Shia allies in Lebanon and Iraq have joined the war in the region unleashed by US and Israeli strikes on Tehran.