SerpApi.Org
Yemen-based Houthi rebels vowed to place a “naval blockade” on Saudi shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on Monday, a move that could jeopardize another of the world’s major oil transport routes and further deepen the fuel crisis that has wracked the world for months.
The Houthis, backed by Tehran, said the blockade on the strait was a response to an “oppressive siege” on Yemen and would start “immediately.”
Iran had warned Yemeni rebel forces could shut down the strait, which unlocks shipping access to the Red Sea, if the U.S. continued with attacks on Iranian infrastructure in its ongoing war against Tehran.
The U.S. launched fresh strikes on Iran for a ninth consecutive night into Monday, while Iran targeted U.S. military sites in Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain.
U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it conducted another round of strikes against Iranian targets on Monday night, continuing its campaign against Tehran’s military capabilities in and around the Strait of Hormuz. According to the military, the operation targeted command centers, maritime assets, missile and drone launch sites, and air defense systems that it says have been used to threaten commercial shipping.
The command also said it has helped support the safe passage of about 900 commercial vessels transporting hundreds of millions of barrels of crude oil since early May, adding that U.S. forces remain prepared to respond to any further attacks on civilian maritime traffic in the region.
Meanwhile, Iran has for months kept its grip on the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and gas previously flowed, despite U.S. attempts to pry away Tehran’s chokehold on the narrow waterway linking the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman.
Traffic through the Hormuz Strait increased shortly after the U.S. and Iran reached a ceasefire deal last month but has dipped once again after that agreement fell apart and strikes between the two countries resumed a week-and-a-half ago.
The Bab el-Mandeb strait has been an alternative route for shipments not able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
Stopping tankers passing through the Bab el-Mandeb strait could put further pressure on the global economy, already strained by months of Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz. It could slice global oil supplies by roughly 7 percent, according to the Reuters news agency.
This would further deepen months of spiked oil prices, chaos in the global markets, travel disruption and concerns among aid agencies that life-saving supplies won’t reach vulnerable people, including in the most deprived or conflict-ridden areas.
But experts say the impact may not be immediate.
“At this stage, the announcement is more likely to create a transportation and cost shock than an immediate collapse in global supplies,” Keland Rumsey, crude team lead, told Newsweek in an email Tuesday.
“The impact will depend on whether the Houthis can sustain attacks and force shipping companies or insurers to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb. Most cargoes can still be rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope, although that adds time, freight costs and pressure on vessel availability,” he said.
“The energy risk is greater because Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on its Red Sea export route as an alternative to disruptions elsewhere in the region,” Rumsey explained.
Rumsey continued, “Oil prices would likely carry a larger geopolitical risk premium and experience greater volatility in the near term.”
“If tankers continue rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope, the main effect would be higher transportation costs, tighter vessel availability and delayed deliveries rather than an immediate loss of supply,” he said.
“A more significant price spike would occur if Bab el-Mandeb were effectively closed while the Strait of Hormuz remained constrained, limiting Saudi Arabia’s primary alternative export route. In that scenario, crude prices could move sharply higher as refiners compete for near-term supplies, with diesel and jet fuel potentially facing even greater pressure,” Rumsey told Newsweek.
Houthi Attacks
Houthi forces attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea shortly after Israel launched its war on Iran-supported Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza in October 2023.
There were more than 100 Houthi attacks on shipping vessels between November 2023 and October 2025, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration, although the number of strikes on commercial ships dropped by 2025 following a ceasefire deal for Gaza in January that year.
The Bab el-Mandeb strait lies between Yemen, Djibouti and Eritrea, and because it’s used for international transit, states overlooking the waterway can’t block passage through the area.
Saudi Arabia has for years imposed restrictions on Yemeni airspace, as well as the country’s ports and land borders, and is leading a coalition trying to dislodge the powerful Houthi rebels from swathes of Yemen and reinstall a government recognized by the international community in the capital, Sanaa.
Saudi jets attacked the main international airport in Sanaa earlier this month, prompting Houthi rebels to fire drones and missiles at a Saudi airport just under 100 kilometers from the Yemeni border.
It was the most significant flare-up of fighting between the two neighbors since the rebels inked a truce with the Saudi-backed government in 2022.
Houthi rebels called the naval blockade an “an eye for an eye” response.
The Houthi announcement on Monday came shortly after both the U.S. and Iran expressed fresh hopes for a peace deal, despite a ninth consecutive night of strikes by both sides into the early hours of Monday.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington was still open to a diplomatic solution, and said Iran had indicated to the U.S. it was willing to talk.
“When America talks about diplomacy, it means imposition, intimidation, threats, and sanctions,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
Iran has received a proposal via mediators for a 10-day ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, Reuters reported on Monday, opening a path for negotiations to resume.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Frances Mao, Anna Commander, Robert Greenall, Edward T. Cummins, Gray R. Thomas.
Related Articles
