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B. Iran backed and armed the Shia Muslim Houthis in their civil war against Yemen’s Sunni Muslim government, which Saudi Arabia backed. Sunni and Shia are the two main religious sects in Islam and have been rivals since the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632.
D. First opened in 1869, the 120-mile-long Suez Canal connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean drastically shortened the shipping routes between Europe and Asia and ignited a trading boom. The Houthi attacks have occurred near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the Indian Ocean end of the Red Sea.
C. According to ancient Egyptian and Persian inscriptions and Greek historians, the Canal of the Pharaohs connected the Red Sea to the Nile River which empties into the Mediterranean.
C. Saudi Arabia reportedly asked the United States to show restraint in responding to the Houthi attacks to keep the Israeli-Hamas war from expanding into a wider regional conflict. Shipping is continuing in the Red Sea, but the cost of ship insurance has soared, raising the price of goods.