Doha, Qatar — The Center for Conflict and Humanitarian Studies (CHS), in collaboration with the Iranian Studies Unit at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and the Sana'a Center, convened a webinar on 2 September 2026 titled “Red Sea Security: The War at the Chokepoints and Implications for Yemen." The webinar examined how the US-Israeli war on Iran is affecting Yemen's conflict dynamics, Red Sea security, economic and humanitarian conditions, and prospects for mediation.
Held as part of The War on Iran — Regional Reverberations, a joint series by CHS and the Iranian Studies Unit, the webinar was moderated by Kareem Elgibali from the CHS. The panel featured Hussam Radman, Senior Researcher at the Sana'a Center; Thomas Juneau, Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa; and Yasmeen Al-Eryani, Executive Director for Knowledge Production at the Sana'a Center.
The discussion underscored that the war on Iran is amplifying dynamics already present in Yemen's conflict while changing the strategies and calculations through which actors pursue their objectives. As parties reassess one another's intentions and capabilities in a more volatile regional environment, the risk of unintended escalation has increased even without a clear decision to return to full-scale conflict. This changing strategic context has also increased the significance of the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, where maritime disruption has become more closely tied to deterrence, regional leverage, and wider competition.
Inside Yemen, the regional escalation is compounding the effects of an already fragmented economy. The country remains divided across parallel economic systems, with separate currencies, policies and revenue structures, while declining purchasing power continues to be a major driver of humanitarian need. These pressures are worsening already severe economic and humanitarian conditions across the country.
The webinar also pointed to the erosion of external mediators' leverage and the limits of externally driven approaches to the political process. Participants stressed that any future process should centre direct negotiations among Yemeni actors, while engagement with regional powers proceeds on a parallel track. External mediators can facilitate and support that process but cannot substitute for Yemeni-led negotiations over the country's political future.
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