Letters from an American - A Chokepoint for World Trade

Episode Date: September 11, 2026

September 10, 2026Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militants have taken control of an area near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, With the Strait of Hormuz largely closed, the Bab el-Mandeb has become very important for global shipping, The Iran-backed Houthis have been in a struggle against the Saudi Arabia-backed Yemeni government, The attacks on Saudi targets started fires at oil facilities and wounded more than 70, Reports indicated that Iran had planned an economic “nuclear option” closing the Bab e-Mandeb, The price of oil jumped to $109 a barrel, The average price of diesel hit $6.00 for the first time ever, The new record will be painful, especially if diesel prices continue to climb, Trump spent the day at the Dallas rally that is intended to fire up his base before the midterms. Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ-Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribeYou can also find me:Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

September 10, 26. We woke up today to news that Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militants have taken control of the city and seaport of Moka and much of the shoreline of the Red Sea near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, another choke point for world trade, including trade in oil. With the Strait of Hormuz largely closed, Saudi Arabia has relied for sea-going transport on the Red Sea. sea route that empties into the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. As Diana Roy of the Council on Foreign Relations wrote in July, the Red Sea is one of the most important routes for global shipping. It carries 12 to 15 percent of the global maritime trade every year worth about a trillion dollars. The waterway extends about 1,400 miles from the Suez Canal, which connects it to the Mediterranean Sea, at the northern end, to the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in the south. The Iran-backed Houthis are in a struggle against the Saudi Arabia-backed Yemeni government.

A fragile truce has been in place since 2022, but clashes between the two forces have escalated for weeks, and on Tuesday, September 8th, Houthi attacks on Saudi targets started fires at oil facilities and wounded more than 70 people. The Yemeni government told Reuters that Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, have guided the Houthi advance. And according to Zachary Cohen, Katie Bo Lilis, and Kylie Atwood of CNN, U.S. officials think that hundreds of IRGC officers are currently in Yemen, working with the Houthis to shut down the Bab El Mandeb. The journalists note that CNN has previously reported that in case U.S. negotiations were unsuccessful,

Iran had planned an economic nuclear option, closing the Bab al-Mandem. Cohen, Lilas, and Atwood reported this afternoon that more than 100 U.S. military advisors are in Saudi Arabia as part of a new Joint Forces Command, providing the Saudis with intelligence and helping them find Houthi targets. The sources who told the journalists about the joint effort emphasized that the U.S. routinely shares intelligence with the Saudis and that it is neither participating directly in the strikes nor providing operational support. Still, U.S. air strikes on the Houthis killed 153 civilians and wounded 243 others in Yemen. in 2025.

The price of oil jumped to $109 a barrel, and U.S. gasoline rose to an average of about $4.28 a gallon. Gas Buddy said the national average price of diesel had hit $6 for the first time in history. Just a year ago, the national average

was about $3.70. Gas Buddy issued a statement, saying, while gasoline gets the headlines, diesel is the fuel that moves the economy, powering the freight trucks, trains, agricultural equipment, and construction machinery behind nearly everything Americans buy. That means its impact reaches far beyond the transportation sector. As diesel climbs, higher supply chain costs work their way into the price of groceries, household goods, deliveries, and countless other products families rely on every day,

even for households that never fuel a diesel vehicle. GasBuddy's head of petroleum analysis, Patrick Dahan, said the new record will be a particularly painful one for the economy and is likely to reignite inflation up and down the supply chain. He continued, I suggest Americans anticipate a costlier holiday season, as it appears diesel prices could continue climbing as geopolitical tensions continue to remain a main factor. While all this was going on, tonight President Trump attended the second day of his Dallas rally to fire up his base before the midterm elections.

There, a video from the Republican National Committee intoned. And on June 14, 1946, God looked down on his planned paradise and said, I need a caretaker. So God gave us Trump. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead in Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss.