Yemen’s Houthis declare naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, widening threat to global oil supplies

The Houthis said their decision to declare a maritime embargo was in response to what they called “an unjust and oppressive siege” imposed on Yemen.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said Monday they were imposing a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, a move that opens a new front against the United States in its war on Iran and widens the threat to global energy supplies and trade beyond the Gulf.

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Iran had pressed the Houthis to close the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea if the U.S. continued to attack Iranian power infrastructure.

In their statement, the Houthis’ armed forces said they were declaring “a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of ‘an eye for an eye’, effective immediately.”