Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels have announced an immediate maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia, putting the spotlight back on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, one of the world's most critical shipping chokepoints.
The move raises fresh concerns over disruptions to global trade and oil flows through the narrow gateway linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, a route that carries around 12% of global trade and roughly a quarter of the world's container traffic via the Suez Canal.
A Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said in a video statement that the maritime ban against Saudi Arabia will be effective immediately, describing it as an "equation of an eye for an eye." There were few details, but the deputy head of the Houthi media office, Nasruddin Amer, said on X that the Bab al-Mandeb strait will be closed in response to what he called Saudi Arabia's "unjust blockade on Yemenis for over 10 years." Why this move threatens global shipping Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is the gateway to the Red Sea through which around 12 per cent of the world's trade usually passes.
A fourth of global container trade transits through the 32-kilometre (20-mile)-wide strait to and from the Suez Canal.
The Houthis earlier demonstrated their ability to disrupt shipping there when they targeted ships for months over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with over 100 vessels attacked.
It is unclear whether the Houthis will resume that level of attack against neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
Notably, Saudi Arabia is already under pressure as it uses its East-West Pipeline to the Red Sea as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which remains in the grip....
