Houthis enters monthlong war as global shipping under threat

TEHRAN

Houthis rally in solidarity with Iran and Lebanon, amid the US-Israeli war with Iran, in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on March 27, 2026.

Iranian-backed Houthi rebels entered the monthlong war in the Middle East on March 28, claiming two missile launches at Israel.

The war has threatened global supplies of oil and natural gas, sparked fertilizer shortages and disrupted air travel. Iran’s grip on the strategic Strait of Hormuz has shaken markets and prices.

The Houthis’ entry could further hurt global shipping if they again target vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the Red Sea, through which about 12 percent of the world’s trade typically passes.

Houthi Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said on the rebels' Al-Masirah satellite television station that they launched missiles toward “sensitive Israeli military sites” in the south.

If the Houthis increase attacks on commercial shipping, as they have in the past, it would further push up oil prices and destabilize “all of maritime security,” said Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group. “The impact would not be limited to the energy market.”

The Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is crucial for vessels heading to the Suez Canal through the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia has been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through it because the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed.

Houthi rebels attacked more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels, between November 2023 and January 2025.

The Houthis' latest involvement would complicate the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the aircraft carrier that arrived in Croatia on Saturday for maintenance. Sending the ship to the Red Sea could draw attacks similar to those on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in 2024 and the USS Harry S. Truman in 2025.

Meanwhile, the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard warned in a statement on March 29 that Iran would consider Israeli universities and branches of American universities in the region “legitimate targets” without safety assurances for Iranian universities, state media reported.

“If the U.S. government wants its universities in the region spared, it should condemn the bombardment of [Iranian] universities by 12 o’clock Monday, March 30, in an official statement,” the Guard said, adding a demand that the U.S. stop Israel from striking Iranian universities and research centers, which have been attacked in recent days.

Iran’s threat of escalating attacks to regional universities came after claiming the monthlong U.S.-Israeli air campaign hit universities in Tehran and Isfahan. Israel’s military has acknowledged striking universities it says are connected to weapons development.