Eritrea: The Trump Card That Breaks Iran and the Houthis’ Game for Control Over the World’s Oil Chokepoints

Eritrea—often dubbed “Africa’s North Korea” due to its insularity—rarely makes global headlines.

A Safe Harbor in a Stormy Sea: How Eritrea Is Snatching Control from the Houthis and Iran

At stake is the Bab el-Mandeb Strait—the “Gate of Tears”—through which passes up to 12% of global maritime trade, roughly 30% of container shipping, and significant volumes of oil and liquefied natural gas. Here, Eritrea, despite its isolation, is emerging as the chief beneficiary of the chaos and a potential “game-breaker” for Iran’s and its allies’ ambitions to monopolize the world’s critical oil arteries.

Eritrea’s primary advantage is its 1,000 kilometer Red Sea coastline, including the strategic ports of Massawa and Assab. These ports sit in close proximity to the Bab el-Mandeb, which at its narrowest point is less than 30 kilometers wide. Here lies the boundary between war-torn Yemen—where Iran-backed Houthis threaten shipping—and the African coast, where Eritrea offers an island of stability. “Yemen is just across the Red Sea, which makes Eritrea’s position especially interesting, because Yemen is in crisis and maritime security in the region is under threat… The only safe route in this area goes through Eritrea, which currently has no security problems,” notes Abdurahman Sayed, director of the Center for Regional Integration in the Horn of Africa.

While the Houthis have repeatedly threatened to shut the Bab el-Mandeb—calling it one of their options, and in July 2026 even declaring a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia—Eritrea is becoming a “backup airfield” for global........

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