Yemen’s Houthi movement has announced an immediate maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia, introducing new uncertainty for regional energy exports and international shipping as tensions across the Middle East continue to escalate.
In a statement, Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the embargo was introduced in response to what the group described as recent Saudi attacks on Sana’a International Airport, as well as Saudi Arabia’s long-standing blockade of Yemen’s ports and airports.
The announcement adds further pressure to maritime trade routes at a time when commercial shipping in the region is already facing significant disruption.
The Houthis have repeatedly threatened to block the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the strategic waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, particularly since the outbreak of the conflict involving the United States and Iran.
Last week, reports indicated that Iran had urged its Houthi allies to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait if U.S. military operations targeted Iranian power infrastructure.
The group has already shown it can disrupt international shipping, with Houthi attacks on commercial vessels since late 2023 forcing many shipping lines to reroute cargo around the Cape of Good Hope rather than using the Suez Canal, greatly increasing transit times and transportation costs. Many container carriers continue to use the longer African route despite the added expense because of ongoing security concerns in the Red Sea.
Although the Houthis have not provided detailed guidance on how the embargo will be enforced, any threat to Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea carries heightened economic significance.
With the Strait of Hormuz facing renewed disruptions, Saudi Arabia has increasingly shifted crude oil exports away from its traditional Gulf terminals by transporting oil through pipelines to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
With the regional conflict worsening, Saudi Arabia has increasingly loaded Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) at Yanbu for shipments to Asian markets. But those vessels still have to pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, bringing them within range of potential Houthi attacks.
Any interruption to shipments from Yanbu would simply add to the pressure on Saudi Arabia’s energy sector, where crude export volumes have already fallen to levels not seen for decades.
Pipeline exports into Yanbu for export have quadrupled since the US and Iran were locked in conflict, Kpler data shows. Some 75% of Saudi crude oil and condensate exports left from Yanbu in the first half of July, instead of Gulf export terminals.
Those fears resurfaced after a short-lived period of relative stability in June 2026, when a memorandum of understanding between the United States and Iran briefly opened the Strait of Hormuz to shipping.
That improvement has since reversed. Tanker traffic through the strait has fallen sharply as Iran continues asserting control over the waterway.
Kpler reported only 30 vessel transits between July 17 and July 19, compared with the pre-conflict average of 138 vessels per day reported by the Joint Maritime Information Centre (JMIC).
Recent security incidents have further underscored the risks to commercial shipping. One of the latest involved the Dynacom tanker Kavomaleas, which caught fire off the coast of Oman, forcing its crew to abandon the vessel.
According to JMIC, there had been 11 reported Iranian attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz between June 25 and July 19.
At the same time, renewed U.S. military operations have further complicated regional maritime traffic. According to U.S. Central Command, enforcement measures around the Strait of Hormuz had redirected six vessels and disabled one vessel as of July 19.
The increasing risks in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait highlights the growing challenges for global energy supply chains, as oil producers, shipping companies and charterers are increasingly looking for alternative export routes to keep the flow of Middle Eastern crude moving.
