Houthis want to copy Iran’s Hormuz control in the Red Sea: Yemeni FM

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that Yemen’s internationally recognised government has warned that the Houthi movement is seeking to mirror Iran’s leverage over the Strait of Hormuz by exerting control over shipping in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the key passage linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. Speaking at Yemen’s embassy in Riyadh on Monday, foreign minister-designate Afrah al-Zouba said the Houthis had been encouraged by what she described as an inadequate international response to their regional actions.

The warning comes amid renewed escalation involving the Houthis, Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Saudi-backed government. According to the report, the Houthis earlier in July announced a maritime siege targeting Red Sea shipping connected to Saudi Arabia and fired missiles and drones at the kingdom. Riyadh has responded with air strikes on Houthi-held Hodeidah, a strategic port city on Yemen’s Red Sea coast.

Bab al-Mandeb is a major chokepoint for world trade, and Al Jazeera cited figures indicating that about 30 percent of global container traffic and 12 to 15 percent of total global trade passes through the Red Sea. The report said shipping has already fallen, with data showing only 11 commodity vessels transiting the route on Sunday.

Al-Zouba said government forces were exchanging fire along front lines but had not begun an offensive. The latest violence is described as the largest escalation since a 2022 truce. Yemen’s war began in 2014 when the Houthis took Sanaa, and the conflict has caused mass civilian suffering, including deaths linked to hunger and disease.