Houthis announce maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia

Yemen’s Houthis declared an immediate “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia, raising the threat of renewed disruption in one of the world’s most important oil and shipping corridors.

The Iran-aligned group said Monday that the move was retaliation for what it called a Saudi blockade of ports and airports in Houthi-controlled northwestern Yemen. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said Saudi Arabia had imposed an “unjust and oppressive siege on our dear people for nearly 12 years, plundering our resources and imposing a comprehensive blockade on our ports and airports by land, sea, and air.”

He said the group was responding with a “maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of ‘an eye for an eye’.” Sarea warned that “any foolish act committed by the reckless Saudi enemy through all escalation will be met with a comprehensive and decisive escalation.”

The Houthis gave few details on how the embargo would be enforced. Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthi media office, wrote on X that Houthi forces were “closing Bab al-Mandab to Saudi enemy ships,” according to the BBC. There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities.

The Bab al-Mandab Strait links the Gulf of Aden with the Red Sea, which connects to the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal. It sits between southwestern Yemen and the Horn of Africa and is a key route for oil exports and other commercial shipping. Al Jazeera reported that about 4.1 billion barrels of crude oil and refined petroleum products passed through the strait in 2024, about 5% of the global total.

The announcement follows a sharp escalation in the largely dormant conflict between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, which has been under an informal truce since 2022. The Houthis said they fired ballistic missiles at Abha International Airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia after an attack on Sanaa International Airport that they blamed on Riyadh. Yemen’s internationally recognized, Saudi-backed government claimed responsibility for the Sanaa airport strikes, saying it sought to prevent an Iranian plane from landing in the capital without authorization. Al Jazeera reported that the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted the missile salvo aimed at Abha.

Yemen’s war began in 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and ousted the government. The conflict widened in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition intervened to restore the government’s rule. The fighting has reportedly killed more than 150,000 people and left more than 22 million in need of aid, according to the United Nations.

The Red Sea route has grown more important for Saudi oil shipments during the US-Israeli war with Iran, which has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf. Saudi Arabia has shifted more than 70% of its crude exports to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, the BBC reported. Ship-tracking data from Kpler and Signal Ocean showed shipments from Yanbu averaging about 4 million barrels per day in recent weeks, up from about 973,000 barrels per day a year earlier. Total petroleum volumes moving through Bab al-Mandab rose to 7.4 million barrels per day in June, about 7% of global output.

The Houthis previously disrupted global shipping after the Gaza war began in October 2023, attacking merchant vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with missiles, drones and small boats while saying they were acting in support of Palestinians. The BBC reported that four ships were sunk, nine crew members were killed, and commercial traffic through Bab al-Mandab fell to a record low as vessels rerouted around southern Africa. The Houthis paused those attacks after a Gaza ceasefire last October, but transits through the strait have not returned to earlier levels, according to International Monetary Fund data cited by the BBC.

Mohammed Albasha of the US-based risk advisory firm Basha Report said it remained unclear whether the Houthis would target vessels bound for Saudi Arabia. “Even if no ships are attacked, the announcement alone is likely to disrupt shipping and create uncertainty for Saudi ports. Whether the Houthis move from threats to direct action remains the critical issue,” he told Reuters.