Houthis consider fees for Red Sea passage through Bab el-Mandeb, Reuters reports

Houthis consider imposing fees for Red Sea passage: Report Yemen's Houthis could be looking to impose fees on maritime traffic coming through the Bab el-Mandeb gateway, the Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday, citing regional sources.  Saudi Arabia has utilised Bab el-Mandeb as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blocked for US-allied vessels since March, following the launch of the US-Israeli war on Iran on 28 February. And last week, the Houthis attacked a Saudi tanker off the southern Saudi port of Jizan.  While no timeline has been set for imposing the fees, it would ramp up pressure on the Trump administration to wind down its war on Iran, Reuters said. Read more: Houthis consider imposing fees for Red Sea passage: Report A commercial vessel passes through an international shipping lane off Yemen's Hanish Island in the Red Sea, on 27 July 2026 (Khaled Ziad/AFP)

Houthis consider imposing fees for Red Sea passage: Report Submitted by MEE staff on Thu, 07/30/2026 - 17:24 The group imposed a maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia as of 20 July A commercial vessel passes through an international shipping lane off Yemen's Hanish Island in the Red Sea, on 27 July 2026 (Khaled Ziad/AFP) Off Yemen's Houthis could be looking to impose fees on maritime traffic coming through the Bab el-Mandeb gateway, the Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday, citing regional sources.  Saudi Arabia has utilised Bab el-Mandeb as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blocked for US-allied vessels since March, following the launch of the US-Israeli war on Iran on 28 February. And last week, the Houthis attacked a Saudi tanker off the southern Saudi port of Jizan.  While no timeline has been set for imposing the fees, it would ramp up pressure on the Trump administration to wind down its war on Iran, Reuters said.  The Houthis are allied with Tehran, and the group is understood to have begun developing the plan after its senior representatives returned from the funeral for slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. While China is negotiating fee-free travel for its vessels, western diplomats have told Reuters that overstretched international forces simply cannot be policing the Red Sea to force the rest of the traffic through.  Red Sea traffic overall has not returned to pre-November 2023 levels, ever since the Houthis began attacks on Israel in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.  Middle East Eye reported in July that tens of billions of dollars will be spent in the coming years to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, according to experts.  The UAE is building a second pipeline to the port of Fujairah to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, doubling its export capacity by 2027. Meanwhile, Iraq - the second-largest producer in the oil cartel Opec - signed a deal with Syria in July to rehabilitate a pipeline from its northern oil fields to Syria’s Mediterranean coast. MEE was the first to reveal the project and its US backing. Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline has emerged as a model for the region. It brings crude from the Gulf coast to the kingdom's Red Sea. Riyadh is also eyeing ways to boost its capacity, further diluting its reliance on the Strait of Hormuz.  Iran's Red Sea option The Houthis first announced a maritime embargo of Saudi Arabia on 20 July, escalating tensions with Riyadh in the Red Sea at a time when it is serving as a linchpin for global energy markets. From Syria to UAE, the race to bypass Strait of Hormuz is on Read More » 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 condemned the announcement, saying the Houthis were trying to "deflect" attention away from their economic mismanagement and public discontent.  "The Houthi militia dragged Yemen into the regional conflict and targeted commercial ships in the Red Sea, thereby exacerbating the suffering of the Yemeni people, preventing them from traveling, and worsening the economic situation," Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said in a statement.   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 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 government say the kingdom’s posture is solely defensive, MEE reported recently. 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. War on Iran News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

Red Sea Redux: Saudis Call For 'Coalition Of The Willing' To Protect Shipping From Houthis Here we go again... after months ago President Trump urgently pushed for an international naval alliance to 'open' the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran war, which was met with at the time with a collective cold shoulder from European allies, the Saudis are newly pitching the same to open up the Bab al Mandab Strait. "Saudi Arabia is seeking to build an international coalition to protect shipping in the Red Sea from Houthi attacks, say two people familiar with the deliberations," Reuters reports Wednesday. March 2024: Maxar Technologies image shows the sinking Belize-flagged ship Rubymar in the Red Sea after being attacked by the Houthis. "The composition of the coalition has yet to be finalized and remains under discussion with dozens of countries, the sources add," the report continues. The conflict has just hit the first day of month six of a 'little excursion' what the White House all the way back in February and March insisted would be a swift, limited, and successful action. Fast-forward and now a key American regional ally pleads for a new 'coalition of the willing' focused on safe Red Sea passage as the Houthis take shots at Saudi vessels. But these calls are again likely to merely fall on deaf ears, given few countries will likely want to send their navies up against an entrenched Houthis movement in Yemen which hasn't yielded after well over a decade at war with the Saudis, Emirates, and Israelis. Also, Washington's global allies have likely long ago lost confidence in American 'plans' for reopening Hormuz and bringing the Iran war to a close. They don't see an articulated exit strategy, but instead a continual escalation ladder broken up for brief pauses and talks which have obviously collapsed. The fact that Riyadh is now scrambling to find safe passage through the Red Sea for its ships speaks to the widening scope of this war. We earlier featured analysis from former MI6 intelligence official Alastair Crooke, whose words are apt here: By adopting such uncompromising Manichaean language, Trump effectively has severed himself from any prospective diplomatic solution. By widening the war (Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iraq) he has severely complicated any diplomatic track. All elements are interrelated, yet they also have separate agendas. Thus a solution involves a complex matrix of issues, rather than a binary dispute between the US and Iran alone.  Likely Washington will jump on board these Saudi calls for international patrols in the Red Sea. But the US is unlikely to lead the way or even directly participate, given this was already tried before in the context of the Gaza war, when the Houthis previously imposed a naval blockade. "Although the Iranian stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz is a key contributor to increasing prices, there is now a second pressure point – a new threat posed by Houthi rebels to shipping in the Red Sea." Read this excellent piece from Nathan L. Owen, Colonel, U.S. Air Force… pic.twitter.com/D93FIpB3S4 — VoteVets (@votevets) July 29, 2026 Despite many rounds of major US and Israeli bombing campaigns over Yemen, the Houthis maintained their ability to target ships in regional waters, and the most advanced militaries and navies in the world seem powerless. Tyler Durden Wed, 07/29/2026 - 20:35

Houthis Signal Red Sea Shipping Tolls In Mirror Image Of Iran's Hormuz Plan Houthis have entered the chat... Already multiple Saudi vessels have been targeted in the Red Sea region, forcing a number of tankers to U-turn, and now Yemen's Houthis are seeking to introduce their own 'toll system' for the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. "Yemen's information minister said intelligence confirmed IRGC advisers were directly involved in designing a Houthi-enforced toll system for the Bab el-Mandeb, mirroring Iran's contested claim to charge fees in the Strait of Hormuz," European media reports Wednesday. Source: Winward "The Houthi armed group is working with Iran to charge ships to transit the Bab el-Mandeb in the Red Sea, threatening another waterway after Tehran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a minister in Yemen's internationally recognised government said on Wednesday."  The scheme is to be a mirror image of that Tehran is seeking to enforce in the Strait of Hormuz, where it continues to insist that it will settle for nothing less than its own vision of management, including fee collection for "navigation" "environmental" and safety assurance. According to more via Reuters: Yemen's Houthi group is considering imposing fees on commercial ships sailing through the southern Red Sea, a week after declaring a naval blockade ​on Saudi Arabia, regional sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The Iran-aligned Houthis on July 20 declared a maritime embargo against Saudi ‌Arabia, opening a new front against the U.S. and its allies in the Iran war and expanding attacks on tankers carrying global energy and other supplies to waters beyond the Gulf. The US and Saudi backed government in Yemen, which has for over a decade been at civil war with the Houthi rebels, has described the move as "a dangerous escalation aimed at transforming one of the world's most strategic maritime corridors into a permanent source of funding for the militia's military and terrorist activities," according to Yemen's Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani. The pro-Saudi axis has said it recently obtained "confirmed intelligence" indicating that Iran's IRGC were helping to manage the toll initiative. "The intelligence indicates that IRGC experts and advisers are directly involved in designing the technical and administrative framework of the project," Eryani added. Eryani stated this would include "the establishment of a dedicated entity responsible for collecting payments from shipping companies and commercial vessels". Iran has been pledging to support its ground proxies in Iraq and Yemen, as both since last weekend appeared to begin launching attacks on Saudi Aramco facilities. Overnight saw a rare joint US-Saudi response with attacks on Iraqi militias. In the case of Yemen, there's not much the coalition can do given the Houthis have remained entrenched even after years of massive bombing campaigns, including strikes conducted solely by the Israeli Air Force at times. China is said to be in direct talks with the Houthis to allow for passage of Chinese vessels, also based on prior precedent wherein the Houthis allowed Russian and Chinese ships to pass without incident, connected to the prior Gaza war. Tyler Durden Wed, 07/29/2026 - 15:15