Houthis want to take control of Hormuz from Iran in the Red Sea: Yemen FM | News about the Houthis

Speaking in Riyadh, Yemen’s internationally recognized government has warned that international indifference has strengthened the Houthis.

Yemen’s Houthi group wants to replicate Iran’s strategy in the Strait of Hormuz by controlling shipping in the Red Sea through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, Yemen’s top diplomat has warned.

“The Houthis want to follow the example of Iran, and this will close the two main routes, access to the Gulf and the Red Sea,” the appointed foreign minister of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, Afrah al-Zouba, told reporters on Monday.

Speaking at the Yemeni embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, al-Zouba said the Iran-backed Houthis are emboldened by the lack of international response to their actions in the region.

The Bab al-Mandeb Strait connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, and – like the Strait of Hormuz – a large part of the world’s economy depends on the continuous movement of maritime traffic through it.

About 30 percent of the world’s traffic passes through the Red Sea, and 12 to 15 percent of all world trade.

Yemen’s traffic gives whoever controls the west of the country the leverage to direct traffic through Bab al-Mandeb.

Data show that shipping on the Red Sea is already down, with only 11 ships passing through on Sunday.

Al-Zouba’s comments come as tensions between the Houthis on the one hand and Saudi Arabia on the other and Yemen’s internationally recognized government escalate.

In early July, the Houthis announced that they would launch a naval blockade on Red Sea shipping to and from Saudi Arabia, and launched missiles and drones at the kingdom.

Riyadh has been launching airstrikes on Yemen’s main city of Hodeidah, which is held by the Houthis.

The increase in July is the largest since the agreement was reached in 2022 and came as the US attacked Iran.

Al-Zouba said the government of Yemen, which is supported by Saudi Arabia, is preparing to step up, and fire is being exchanged on the front where the Houthi-controlled area meets the government-controlled areas, but no offensive has been launched.

About 20 fighters from both sides He died earlier this month in the battle between the Houthis and government forces around Hodeidah.

Hundreds of people have died in Yemen since the war began in 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, and President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi eventually fled to Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia led the Arab coalition in the campaign to oust the Houthis from 2015 to 2022.

As of 2026, the Houthis are still in power in the capital and other parts of Yemen. Meanwhile, tensions between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which Riyadh says supports the group in southern Yemen, which has been affected on the ground.

Yemeni civilians have paid a heavy price, with an estimated 377,000 deaths between 2015 and early 2022, many of them from war-related causes, such as starvation and disease.