Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis announce maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia

SANAA – Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels on July 20 announced a maritime embargo of Saudi Arabia, stepping up the US-Iran war as the rebels threatened the top oil exporter’s ability to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

The group did not say how it planned to impose the embargo, whose declaration came as Iran said it was back to a “full-scale war” with the United States, and as Washington and Tehran battled to control the strait.

Later Saudi’s foreign ministry condemned the Houthi maritime blockade and a reasserted Riyadh’s backing for Yemen’s Aden-based government.

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis traded fire last week for the first time in years, threatening a 2022 truce that has held despite expiring.

The exchange of strikes was set off when an Iranian plane attempted to land in Sanaa, challenging Saudi Arabia’s hegemony over Yemeni skies.

The Houthis’ naval blockade, if enforced, could further strain Saudi Arabia’s economy by cutting off access to its Red Sea ports, which have been vital for oil exports as renewed fighting limits passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

The blockade is also expected to hurt global markets that rely on Saudi Arabia – which produces over 10 million barrels of crude per day – for energy imports.

The rebels declared “a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of ‘an eye for an eye’, effective immediately”, military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement.

Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, warned that the threat from the Houthis risked an “even wider” regional conflict.

‘Strategic trigger’

The Houthis have previously tried to cut off shipping through the Red Sea, leveraging the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a chokepoint at its southern tip which vessels must navigate when travelling to or from the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean.

Security expert Andreas Krieg said Tehran could ask the Houthis to “prepare the Bab al-Mandab front and may provide the strategic trigger, particularly if US pressure is degrading Iran’s position around Hormuz” even if the rebels retain “considerable autonomy”.

“A simultaneous crisis at Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab would produce a much larger shock than either blockade alone,” the King’s College London academic told AFP.

“Hormuz disruption constrains Gulf oil and liquefied natural gas exports, while Bab al-Mandab disruption interrupts the principal maritime connection between Asia, the Gulf and Europe.”

The Houthis previously launched attacks on ships transiting the waterway beginning in November 2023 during the Gaza war, forcing vessels to take lengthy detours around Africa instead of travelling directly from Europe.

Yemen shares a border and coastline with Saudi Arabia, whose Red Sea port of Yanbu has been crucial for exporting oil, bypassing Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz during its war with the US.

The conflict sowed panic on global energy markets until a ceasefire last month – which has since collapsed.

‘Bloackade with a blockade’

“Even if no ships are attacked, the announcement alone is likely to disrupt shipping and create uncertainty for Saudi ports,” said Mohammed al-Basha, of the US-based risk advisory Basha Report.

“Whether the Houthis move from threats to direct action remains the critical issue.”

Krieg said the blockade “would hurt Saudi Arabia very seriously”, explaining that much of Saudi Arabia’s oil was sold to Asian markets.

With the Bab al-Mandab closed, “those vessels would have to sail north through Suez, cross the Mediterranean, pass Gibraltar and travel around Africa before reaching Asia”.

Later on July 20, the head of the Saudi-backed Yemeni government Rashad al-Alimi said work would begin on resuming the country’s oil exports without elaborating on measures to restore the flow of oil, blocked by the Houthis.

Saree said the announced closure of Bab al-Mandab was in response to Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Houthi “ports and airports” and the targeting of Sanaa airport, adding that they would respond to “the blockade with a blockade”.

Last week, the Houthis fired missiles at a Saudi airport in Abha after the airport in the rebel-held capital Sanaa was struck.

The Houthis blamed Riyadh for the strike, which the Aden-based Yemeni government said was launched to prevent an Iranian plane from landing.

For more than a decade, aircraft entering Yemeni airspace have needed prior clearance from the Saudi-led coalition that backs Yemen’s government and says it enforces the restriction at its request.

The Houthis have been at war with Yemen’s government since 2014, in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people. AFP