(June 8): The Houthis, an Iran-backed militant group that controls much of Yemen, declared a ban on Israeli ships in the Red Sea, threatening a key bypass route to the Strait of Hormuz.
“We declare a complete and total ban on Israeli maritime navigation,” the group said Monday in a statement. “We consider all enemy movements to be legitimate military targets for our armed forces.”
The move comes as the Iran war drags into a fourth month and hostilities flare across the region, threatening to derail a fragile truce and complicate negotiations toward a peace deal. The conflict has led to the near-closure of Hormuz, forcing key Middle Eastern exporters to find alternative routes to global markets.
While the Houthis’ statement doesn’t amount to a ban on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, maritime intelligence agency Vanguard Tech advised caution.
“Given the broad wording used, vessels operating in the region should maintain heightened vigilance and conduct enhanced affiliation screening,” Vanguard said in a note.
The Houthis previously began attacking ships back in 2023 following the outbreak of Israel’s war in Gaza. The militants targeted vessels they deemed linked to Israel, a definition that proved very wide. A large number of ships were affected and carriers would sometimes be attacked by mistake. Traffic through the waterway collapsed.
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The Houthis have largely sat out the US-Israeli war on Iran but have repeatedly warned that they could close the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a narrow waterway that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
Renewed attacks in the area could jeopardise exports from Saudi Arabia’s western port of Yanbu, where large numbers of oil tankers have pitched up in the past three months to collect Saudi crude.
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