Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on Monday announced they are imposing a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia in retaliation for a blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on Sanaa International Airport, threatening another vital waterway for global shipping and raising fears of renewed conflict.
The announcement — delivered by Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree in a video statement — came four days after the same movement attacked the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group in the Red Sea, and directly targets what has become the world’s most critical remaining oil export corridor: Saudi Arabia’s pipeline route to Yanbu on the Red Sea coast.
What the Houthis Declared
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.'”
The deputy head of the Houthi media office, Nasruddin Amer, said on X that the Bab al-Mandeb strait will be closed to the Saudis in response to what he called the kingdom’s “unjust blockade on Yemenis for over 10 years.”
The Houthis also expressed “complete readiness for all options” and warned that “any foolish” Saudi act would be met with a “comprehensive and decisive” response.
The trigger for the embargo was a dispute over Sanaa International Airport. The announcement came days after the Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for attacking Sanaa airport, despite Yemen’s internationally recognised government claiming responsibility, saying it was to prevent an Iranian plane from landing in the capital. In response to the attack, the Houthis fired ballistic missiles at Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport. The Saudi-led coalition said it successfully intercepted the salvo.
Why Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Route Is Critical to the World
The Saudis have diverted millions of barrels of oil per day through a pipeline to an export terminal on the Red Sea. Those exports have acted as a crucial relief valve for global oil markets during the US-Iran war.
This is the central strategic significance of the Houthi embargo. Since the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed to two-thirds of its pre-war commercial traffic from February 28 onwards, Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline — connecting the oil fields of the Eastern Province to the Yanbu export terminal on the Red Sea coast — has been the mechanism through which Saudi oil has continued to reach global markets. Without it, Saudi Arabia’s approximately 9-10 million barrels per day of oil production would have no viable seaborne export route.
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-wide strait to and from the Suez Canal.
The Energy Mathematics of a Dual Closure
The scenario that the Houthi embargo raises — simultaneous effective closure of both the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb — is the one that energy market analysts have been most reluctant to price in, precisely because its consequences are so far beyond what the current oil market can absorb.
The Strait of Hormuz carries approximately 20 million barrels per day at full capacity, currently running at approximately 33% of that level. The Bab el-Mandeb carries approximately 3-4 million barrels of Saudi pipeline oil per day through Yanbu, in addition to what transits through by tanker from other sources. If both straits are simultaneously closed or severely disrupted, the global oil market would be short approximately 30 million barrels per day — with no immediately available alternative supply.
The only remaining seaborne oil export alternative would be the Cape of Good Hope routing, which adds approximately 10-15 days to transit times and has already absorbed as much of the diverted traffic as it can accommodate. The pipeline route through Turkey — which carries approximately 1 million barrels per day from Iraq — would remain open but is wholly insufficient to replace the missing Gulf volume.
Saudi Arabia’s Response
Saudi Arabia has not formally responded to the Houthi embargo declaration. The kingdom’s diplomatic relationships with the Houthis are non-existent — the Saudi-led military coalition that has been fighting the Houthis in Yemen since 2015 created a state of belligerence between the two sides that has never been formally ended. Saudi Arabia’s practical response will be military and diplomatic: pressing the United States to increase strikes on Houthi maritime capabilities and working through regional channels to prevent the embargo from being actively enforced through attacks on Saudi-flagged vessels at Yanbu or in the Bab el-Mandeb approaches.
It is unclear whether the Houthis will resume that level of attack against neighbouring Saudi Arabia that characterised their maritime campaign against global shipping during the 2023-2025 Gaza war. What is clear is that the threat — a maritime embargo against the world’s largest oil exporter, targeting the last functioning major Gulf oil export corridor — is the most direct energy market threat issued since the beginning of the US-Iran war.
