Yemen's Houthis declare blockade on Saudi Arabia, raising Red Sea tensions

Yemen's Houthis declare blockade on Saudi Arabia, raising Red Sea tensions

Yemen’s Houthis announced a maritime embargo of Saudi Arabia on Monday, escalating tensions with Riyadh in the Red Sea at a time when it is serving as a linchpin for global energy markets.

The Houthis did not say how they planned to impose the embargo, but it comes as tensions with Riyadh were already rising over the status of flights to Sanaa, the capital of Yemen held by the Houthis.

Saudi Arabian Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman has suggested to counterparts that Riyadh has wide latitude from the Trump administration to conduct offensive strikes on the group, but other elements of the Saudi Arabian government say the kingdom’s posture is solely defensive, Middle East Eye reported recently.

The Houthis' armed forces said in a statement that they had imposed "a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of 'an eye for an eye', effective immediately".

Saudi Arabia and the Houthis traded fire last week for the first time in years, threatening a 2022 truce backed by the United Nations that has held despite expiring.

The exchange of fire was set off when an Iranian plane arriving from Tehran attempted to land in Sanaa, challenging the status quo under which Yemen’s connection with the outside world has mainly been restricted to flights to Cairo and Amman.

: Yemen's Houthis declare blockade on Saudi Arabia, raising Red Sea tensions

Fighters supporting the Aden-based internationally recognised Yemeni government gather during a vigil along the Red Sea shore in al-Khokha, in Yemen's western Hodeidah province, calling for a resumption of hostilities with the Houthis, on 20 July 2026 (Khaled Ziad/ AFP)