CAIRO — Yemen’s Houthi rebel group has declared a blockade targeting Saudi Arabia, threatening to cut off one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes and potentially escalating the already widening conflict involving Iran.
The rebels announced they are shutting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to any vessels connected to Saudi Arabia, citing the kingdom’s longstanding blockade on Yemen and a recent strike on the international airport in Sanaa, the rebel-held Yemeni capital. The Houthis claim they forced six ships to change course on Tuesday, though no independent verification of that claim has emerged.
Bab el-Mandeb sits at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Arabia. Roughly 12% of all global trade moves through this narrow passage, including about a quarter of the world’s container shipping, as goods travel between Europe and Asia through Egypt’s Suez Canal.
The strait has taken on even greater importance for Saudi oil exports since fighting in the Iran war severely disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.
While the Houthis say they will only target ships tied to Saudi Arabia or its Red Sea ports, their track record during a similar blockade against Israel during the Gaza war tells a different story — during that period, the group attacked vessels with little or no connection to the conflict.
Even the threat alone may be enough to push international shipping companies away from the route.
The Houthis do not currently control the stretch of Yemen’s coastline that runs along Bab el-Mandeb — that territory belongs to their opponents in Yemen’s ongoing civil war. However, the rebels hold ground fewer than 100 kilometers, or about 60 miles, away.
Three Houthi officials, speaking anonymously to the Associated Press on Tuesday because they were not authorized to speak to the media, said the group has spent months preparing to disrupt shipping in the strait. Their plans reportedly include naval mines, boats packed with explosives, drones, and helicopters used to deploy fighters onto ships.
According to those officials, ships would first receive warnings not to cross designated boundaries. If a vessel ignores those warnings, military action would follow.
The situation in the Strait of Hormuz has already demonstrated that even occasional attacks on ships can effectively shut down a vital waterway by driving up risk assessments and insurance costs.
“If Bab el-Mandeb comes under pressure at the same time as shipping in the Gulf, you have disruption around two of the world’s most important maritime routes at once,” said Clionadh Raleigh, founder of ACLED, a conflict monitoring organization, speaking Tuesday.
More than 7 million barrels of petroleum passed through Bab el-Mandeb each day in June — up sharply from around 4 million barrels before the Iran war began — according to an analysis published Monday by Allison Minor, director of the Atlantic Council’s Project for Middle East Integration.
Saudi Arabia has been moving roughly 4 million barrels of oil daily through its Red Sea port of Yanbu, which has helped offset the impact of the Hormuz closure, though global economies have still felt the strain.
Even if Bab el-Mandeb were blocked, Saudi Arabia would retain some options. It could ship up to 2.5 million barrels per day across the Red Sea to Egypt, where the SUMED pipeline can carry the oil onward to the Mediterranean. Another 1 million barrels a day could move through the Suez Canal.
Global shippers could also detour around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of South Africa, as they did during the height of the Gaza war — but that route adds one to two weeks to voyages and significantly increases costs.
At the peak of the Gaza conflict, the Houthis struck more than 100 ships before a sustained U.S. and Israeli air campaign brought those attacks to a halt in early 2025.
President Donald Trump dismissed the latest Houthi threat when asked about it Tuesday in the Oval Office. “So far, it hasn’t happened,” Trump told reporters. “I think that if there is something like that, we’ll just have to take care of business.”
The Houthis also risk reigniting their war with Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners in Yemen, where large-scale fighting had been paused under a 2022 truce. Saudi Arabia’s military stated it intends to keep Bab el-Mandeb open to navigation.
“All Houthi threats against transiting vessels will be dealt with swiftly and firmly, as such threats are a blatant violation of international law and fall under acts of maritime piracy,” said Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a Saudi military spokesperson.
Yemen’s civil war dates back to 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and large portions of northern Yemen, driving the recognized government out of the country. Saudi Arabia has led an international coalition against the rebels and maintained an air and sea blockade on Houthi-controlled areas, though that blockade had loosened in recent years.
The Houthis allege that Saudi Arabia struck Sanaa’s airport earlier this month in an effort to prevent a plane carrying Houthi leaders from landing. The leaders had been returning from Iran, where they attended the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The aircraft ultimately landed safely at a different airport.
In response, the Houthis launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport, marking the most significant military exchange between the two sides in years.
The Houthis say blocking the strait to Saudi traffic is intended to break the coalition’s blockade on Yemen.
Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the move also serves the interests of Iran, the Houthis’ key ally, at a time when U.S. airstrikes in the region have resumed daily.
“From Iran’s perspective, opening additional pressure points across the region gives it more leverage,” Nagi said. “The Houthis provide Tehran with influence over one of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints.”
