Yemen’s Houthi movement declared an immediate naval blockade on Saudi Arabia on July 20th, warning that ships linked to Saudi ports could be targeted in what the Iran-aligned group described as retaliation for recent attacks on Yemen and what it called Riyadh’s continuing “siege” of the country.
In a statement, the Houthis’ armed forces announced “a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of ‘an eye for an eye’, effective immediately,” saying the measure was a response to what they described as “an unjust and oppressive siege” imposed on Yemen by Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, control much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa. They have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s Internationally Recognized Government (IRG) since 2015. Although direct fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis has declined following ceasefire efforts and negotiations, no comprehensive political settlement has been reached, and tensions have periodically resurfaced.
The latest announcement followed Houthi accusations that Saudi Arabia was behind the strike on Sanaa International Airport, despite Yemen’s internationally recognised government saying it had conducted the attack to stop an Iranian plane from landing in the capital.
Under the blockade, the Houthis warned commercial shipping companies, insurers and vessel operators against conducting business with Saudi ports. They said ships loading or unloading cargo at Saudi ports could be considered legitimate military targets regardless of their nationality or ownership if they ignored the warning.
The move threatens one of Saudi Arabia’s most important alternative oil export routes. As instability and restrictions have affected traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on its Red Sea facilities, particularly Yanbu, connected to eastern oil fields through the East-West pipeline. Any disruption to shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait could complicate exports and place additional pressure on global energy markets already coping with regional instability.
The latest development is quite in line with the projections made by the Author in a previous article published on June 28th, in which he had discussed several emerging signs of a deteriorating security landscape in Yemen that indicated a renewed threat to commercial shipping through the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandab Strait.
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In the past, the Houthis had targeted commercial shipping in the Red Sea during the Gaza war in 2023-25, saying their campaign was intended to support Palestinians during the Gaza conflict, which forced many international shipping companies to divert vessels around southern Africa instead of using the Red Sea and Suez Canal, increasing transit times and freight costs.
These attacks eased following a Gaza ceasefire in late 2025, allowing some shipping lines to gradually resume Red Sea transits, but the latest declaration signals renewed risks for maritime traffic.
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, separating Yemen from the Horn of Africa, is one of the world’s most strategically important maritime chokepoints, linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and ultimately the Suez Canal. A substantial share of global oil and container shipping passes through the waterway, making any threat to navigation a matter of international concern.
A complete shutdown of the strait would remove around 7% of global oil supply by preventing most Saudi crude exports from leaving the region. That would compound the disruption already caused by the Gulf conflict, which is said to have cut global oil shipments by roughly 10%.
Tanmay Kadam is a geopolitical observer based in India. He has experience working as a Defence and International Affairs journalist for EurAsian Times. He can be contacted at tanmaykadam700@gmail.com.