Eurasia Press & News
The western section of the Indian Ocean, with its key trade routes and its maritime chokepoints, has faced no shortage of crises between disruptions caused by the Houthis in Yemen and their backers in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
That situation has now been compounded by a returning Somali pirate problem.
Somali pirates are demanding $10 million in exchange for an oil tanker that they seized off the coast of Yemen on May 2. The Togo-flagged Eureka was transporting Emirati diesel when it was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden and taken to the coast of Somalia’s Puntland region, home to ISIS-Somalia and pirate networks. In just under two weeks spanning April and May, pirates seized four vessels in waters near Somalia.
At its peak in 2011, Somali piracy cost shippers and governments around $7 billion — the result of security and evasion costs, increased insurance, ransom payments, and counter-piracy operations.
The broader security deterioration on land and at sea across the Horn of Africa, Yemen, and Gulf of Aden/Red Sea is enabling a rise of piracy now. This has been exacerbated by the Houthi and Iranian closures of major maritime chokepoints, which have demonstrated the effectiveness and utility of maritime aggression.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz elevated the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as an essential bypass, increasing the impact of piracy that threatens these critical waterways. Even the threat of adding Red Sea disruption to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz panics markets.
Resurgent Piracy Threatens Gulf of Aden Stability
Maritime security in the Middle East has been precarious since the Hamas assault on Israel on October 7, 2023. The international community struggled to stop Houthi attacks — launched in solidarity with Hamas — on shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Even the seven-week air campaign by the United States against the Houthis in the spring of 2025 did not deter their attacks on commercial vessels once the air assault ceased.
Harassment of shipping has also proven profitable. In 2024, the UN reported that the Houthis may earn as much as $180 million per month in fees for safe transit. With Iran now reportedly charging $2 million to transit the Strait of Hormuz, Somali pirates may see a similar extortion opportunity.
Houthis Enable Criminal and Terrorist Activity in the Horn of Africa
Mohamed Musa Abulle, Puntland Maritime Police Force Deputy Director of Intelligence, revealed in January 2026 that the Houthis and their partners had provided Somali pirates with weapons and GPS devices that improved their ability to track vessels. The proximity of the Eureka hijacking to the coast of Yemen has raised concern over Houthi-Somali pirate collaboration amongst local officials and regional experts.
The October 2025 report by the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen documented growing ties between the Houthis and al-Shabaab, the al-Qaeda affiliate based in southern Somalia. According to the panel, “The cooperation with al-Shabaab is not simply for transactional benefits; it is also part of a Houthi strategy to wield increasing influence in the region.” Somali piracy offers a potential multiplier for ongoing maritime disruptions.
Washington Must Lead Maritime Security in the Region
American forces are focused on Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, but security needs are still acute in the Gulf of Aden and western part of the Indian Ocean.
To fill some of these gaps, the United States can leverage the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), injecting additional funding together with its partners. The United States should also lead a reevaluation of tasking particularly in Combined Task Force (CTF)-153 — Red Sea, Bab al-Mandeb, and Gulf of Aden security — to ensure counter-weapons smuggling is appropriately prioritized and resourced, as well as ensuring that CMF is working with local partners in Yemen and the Horn of Africa. The UN Security Council should also reinstate previous resolutions which enabled CTF-151 counter-piracy activity in Somali territorial waters.
