Another Hormuz? What to know about the Houthi threat to the Red Sea

This article was originally published on CFR.org.

This article was originally published on CFR.org.

As the United States and Iran remain locked in a struggle for control over the Strait of Hormuz, concerns are mounting about the security of another regional maritime chokepoint: the Red Sea. On July 20, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels declared that they would impose a complete naval blockade on Saudi Arabia. Although they didn’t provide specifics on what the blockade would entail, Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen runs directly along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait—at the south end of the Red Sea—which Saudi Arabia uses to export oil to the global market. The Houthis’ announcement comes more than a month after the group banned all Israeli and Israeli-linked ships from transiting the Red Sea, calling them “legitimate military targets.”

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