Most of the world’s attention is still focused on the Strait of Hormuz.
But an Israeli official told Channel 12 that Houthi control around Bab el-Mandeb could pose an even greater threat to shipping.
The reason is surprisingly simple: geography.
The eastern shipping channel near Perim Island is only about 3 kilometers wide. Ships passing through it would be extremely close to positions on the island.
According to the Israeli official, this changes the military equation significantly. In Hormuz, Iran generally needs radar, surveillance systems and anti-ship weapons to threaten vessels at a distance.
Near Perim, he argued, a fighter equipped with a relatively basic anti-tank missile could potentially hit a tanker within visual range.
That is quite a difference.
And Bab el-Mandeb is not some secondary shipping route. It is the southern gateway connecting the Red Sea and the Suez Canal with the Indian Ocean.
We have already seen what disruption in this region can do: ships rerouting around Africa, longer voyages, higher freight costs and additional pressure on supply chains.
What I find most interesting now is the combination of these two chokepoints.
Markets are watching Hormuz because of its enormous importance to global oil flows. But if risks around Bab el-Mandeb rise at the same time, the problem becomes broader than simply how much oil can leave the Persian Gulf.
It also becomes a question of how safely and at what cost global trade can move through two of its most important maritime corridors.
For gold and silver, geopolitical events alone are never enough to determine the next move in price. But prolonged disruption that starts feeding into energy costs, shipping costs and inflation expectations is certainly worth watching.
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