Houthi Seizure of Mocha Opens New Front in Iran-U.S. War

By Parisa Hafezi, Mohammed Ghobari and Timour Azhari

DUBAI/ADEN/RIYADH, Sept 10 (Reuters) – The lightning Houthi advance down Yemen’s Red Sea coast this week came with direct guidance from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seeking to open a new front in Iran’s war with the U.S., according to Yemeni government, Iranian and regional sources.

By seizing the southwestern port city of Mocha, the Houthis have strengthened their chokehold on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key waterway whose disruption further constricts global energy supplies after Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

Six months into the wider regional conflict between the Houthis’ Iranian allies and the United States, the group now looks