Houthi rebels in Yemen have announced a “maritime embargo” of Saudi Arabia, cutting off a key route for the kingdom’s oil exports.
The Iran-allied group, which controls northern Yemen, pledged in a televised address Monday to block Saudi ships travelling south through the Bab el-Mandeb strait, leaving the region’s two main trade arteries disrupted at once.
Around 9% of global maritime trade flows through Bab el-Mandeb, including 3.1 million barrels of oil a day before the war — a figure that has grown as Saudi Arabia reroutes 70% of its energy exports through western Red Sea ports to circumvent Hormuz in the east.
The Houthis have made good on such threats before: for more than 18 months after Israel’s invasion of Gaza, their attacks forced much of the world’s shipping onto the route around southern Africa, despite a US-led naval coalition sent to stop them.