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September 11: Houthi Seizures at Bab el-Mandeb and Trump’s Voting Remark
U.S. elections
At a Republican midterm convention, President Donald Trump urged attendees to vote on November 3 or earlier, bring friends and family, and then told them to “try to cheat like hell,” a remark aimed at Democrats. He also said he did not care whether attendees were registered. It is an unusually direct contribution to the already difficult task of explaining what election rules are for.
U.S. fuel costs
U.S. diesel prices have reached a record $6 a gallon, increasing costs for trucking and other transportation businesses that are likely to pass those expenses on to consumers. NewsNation reports that Americans have paid an additional $100 billion for fuel during the Iran war.
At the Bab el-Mandeb Strait
Iran-backed Houthi forces have taken Perim Island, after government troops withdrew, and seized the Red Sea port city of Mokha. Perim divides the Bab el-Mandeb Strait into two shipping lanes, while Mokha gives the Houthis another position on Yemen’s Red Sea coast. Alongside Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the gains add pressure on major global shipping routes.
UK-France asylum returns
Human-rights groups say hundreds of asylum seekers returned from the UK to France under the “one in, one out” pilot have gone missing, including at least 41 children whose ages were disputed. The agreement returns one person who arrived in the UK by small boat to France for each person transferred legally to Britain.
Public-health nomination
President Trump’s nominee for U.S. surgeon general has disclosed investments in Philip Morris International, Monster Beverage, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. The tobacco investment is likely to face particular scrutiny for a nominee to the country’s leading public-health post.
Russian Arctic gas
European companies spent a record €7.3 billion on Russian Arctic gas in eight months, more than in all of 2025. Shipping linked to Scotland’s Seapeak and the Greek-connected Dynagas handled 72 percent of Yamal LNG exports, placing two European companies at the center of that trade.
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