Iran's proxies using Yemen to compound war's impact on oil prices

Escalating fighting between Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi Arabia, and attacks by other Iranian proxy forces on Saudi infrastructure, are increasing the threat to tanker traffic in the Middle East and driving up global fuel costs more than six months after the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran.Direct clashes between the U.S. and Iran have severely reduced shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz since the war began, but the Houthi-Saudi tension, and attacks on Saudi infrastructure blamed on other Iran-backed groups, are also squeezing global fuel supplies in the nearby Red Sea. Before the war began, about 30% of oil supplies typically reached the global markets by tanker from the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz (about 20%) and the Red Sea via the Bab el-Mandeb Strait (about 10%) combined. A map shows major routes for energy resources and other trade from the Middle East to Asia, including the Bab el-Mandeb strait and the Strait of Hormuz. Getty/iStockphoto The ongoing threat to ships in the Strait of Hormuz, combined with rising tension around the Bab el-Mandeb and attacks on Saudi infrastructure, helped push the price of Brent crude, the internatio...