Houthis impose Saudi naval blockade, opening new front in US-Iran war

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on 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.

The announcement came despite signs that Tehran and Washington wanted to resume ‌diplomacy to halt an escalating cycle of attacks that has all but wrecked a fragile interim agreement signed last month. Oil prices briefly rose after the Houthis' statement but fell back due to traders' hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough.

Iran had been pressing the Houthis to close the Bab el-Mandeb gateway to the Red Sea if the U.S. continued to attack Iranian power infrastructure. The full closure of the strait would cut global oil supply by 7% as it would leave most Saudi oil exports unable to leave the region. The disruption would ​add to the massive cut to global oil flows from the war in the Gulf, which has already reduced shipments by 10% of global supply.

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" in response to what they called "an unjust and oppressive siege" imposed ⁠on Yemen by the Saudis.