UN Security Council meets as Houthis tighten grip on Red Sea chokepoint

The UN Security Council is scheduled to meet Tuesday afternoon to discuss the situation in the Middle East, as the Houthis’ rapid advance along Yemen’s Red Sea coast raises fresh concerns over global shipping. The official UN agenda item does not mention Yemen or the Red Sea. But the meeting comes after the Iran-backed Houthis tightened their grip on the Bab el-Mandeb strait last week by seizing the Red Sea port of Mokha and Mayyun Island, also known as Perim. Yemeni and Houthi officials say the group has also moved onto the Greater and Lesser Hanish islands , although that claim has not been independently verified. The roughly 30-kilometer-wide strait carries about 8.