The Houthis, an Iran-backed Yemeni group, vowed to impose a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia, prompting the military coalition in Yemen that’s led by the kingdom to say it had taken steps to protect vessels sailing the Red Sea.
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In a separate statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said the kingdom would take all necessary measures to protect its ships in accordance with international law and the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Saudi energy officials were not immediately available for comment.
The Houthi announcement adds to the risks facing oil supplies from the Middle East. Maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, where about a fifth of the world’s oil flowed before the US-led war on Iran, remains near a standstill as Tehran and Washington engage in new clashes. A disruption to supplies through the Red Sea, the route currently used by Saudi Arabia for the bulk of its crude exports, would exacerbate the war’s impact on global oil trade.
Watch: Is Saudi Arabia secretly terrified of a new Houthi barrage after years of failed Yemen campaign?
An official with an oil tanker in the Red Sea said there was a radio broadcast from “Yemeni armed forces” to shipping in the area, saying that Saudi vessels were blocked. The person said the crew that heard the transmission believed it to be authentic.
The kingdom diverted its oil supplies to the key Red Sea port of Yanbu following the outbreak of the war in late February and Iran’s effective closure of Hormuz. Those exports, which rose to a record 4.19 million barrels a day last month, have helped limit the disruption to global supplies, but the route remains fragile as it exposes tankers to the Houthis, who carried out a campaign against Red Sea shipping after Israel invaded Gaza in the wake of the October 2023 Hamas assault.
The militant group disrupted shipping near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait for months starting in late 2023. Traffic along the waterway nearly came to a standstill, forcing shippers to abandon the shortest route between Asia and Europe.
Global benchmark Brent crude on Monday swung on the prospects for further escalation and detente in the conflict. It was trading 0.2% higher at $88.23 a barrel as of 2:06 p.m. in London.
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have been on the rise since last week when Riyadh attacked the airport in Sana’a. Houthis then attacked a southern Saudi airport, the worst flareup between them since a ceasefire in 2022.
How Houthis’ Red Sea threat risks bigger oil shock
The blockade, which puts at risk the flow of millions of barrels of oil, is in response to what the Houthis say is Saudi Arabia’s siege of the Yemeni capital, Sana’a. The ban on Saudi ships would be effective immediately, the militant group’s spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video published Monday on his X account.
The Houthis, a clan from Yemen’s north, seized Sana’a in 2014, touching off a civil war that drew in the Saudis and other Middle East states.
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen began to implement operational measures to protect ships in Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, a spokesman for the coalition, Turki Al-Malki, said in a post on X later in the day. “All Houthi threats against transiting vessels will be dealt with swiftly and firmly,” he said.
