ROME, Italy – Yemen’s Houthis are considering imposing transit fees on commercial vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait just one week after declaring a blockade on Saudi Arabia, sources told AFP and Reuters, a move that could further stifle global trade following Tehran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

In 2014, the Zaydi-Shiite group launched an offensive to capture Sanaa, sparking a civil war pitting the rebels – a core component of Iran’s “Axis of Resistance” – against a Saudi-led coalition, resulting in a stalemate that left Yemen divided between two de facto administrations. Despite a 2022 UN-brokered truce, tensions flared on July 13 when the Sanaa airport was bombed to prevent an Iranian plane from landing.

Centering their power in northwestern Yemen, the Houthis are strategically positioned to control the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a vital chokepoint through which 12 percent of global trade flows. The passage, which links the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean, has become an indispensable oil export route for Riyadh following Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid its conflict with the US and Israel.

Information Minister Moammar al-Eryani of Yemen’s internationally recognized government told AFP that the move was “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.”

Eryani noted the assessment was based on "confirmed intelligence" recently acquired, which suggests that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) “are directly involved in designing the technical and administrative framework of the project."

According to Eryani, the plan involves "the establishment of a dedicated entity responsible for collecting payments from shipping companies and commercial vessels."

During a July visit to Iran for the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Houthi officials discussed the prospect of taxing Bab el-Mandeb transits with their Iranian counterparts, according to two regional officials briefed by Tehran. These sources told Reuters that the strategy is designed to exert pressure on the United States and normalize the collection of fees within international waterways.

While they lack the resources to enforce a full-scale naval blockade, the Houthis are capable of targeting vessels linked to Western and allied interests, making transit prohibitively risky. Ships unable to navigate the strait would be forced to circumnavigate Africa via the Cape of Good Hope, a detour that would significantly increase both shipping times and costs.

As the world's largest buyer of Saudi Arabian oil, China was among the first nations to engage in direct negotiations with the Houthis to secure safe passage for its tankers through the southern Red Sea, Reuters reported, citing regional sources familiar with the matter.

The Iran-backed movement has already demonstrated this disruptive capacity since late 2023, when it began targeting Western and Israeli-linked commercial vessels in the chokepoint in response to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. During this period, the group notably allowed Chinese vessels to continue navigating the route without incident.

Over 70 percent of Saudi crude exports currently flow through the Red Sea port of Yanbu, making any disruption of access to the Indian Ocean a severe economic threat to the kingdom. Yet, tankers bound for Asia have no choice but to navigate the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

With the Houthi threat looming, Riyadh risks losing its primary alternative to Hormuz – a scenario that could squeeze global oil supplies and drive up prices. In the days following the announcement, the threat helped drive Brent crude up more than 13 percent, pushing prices past $100 a barrel.

Following the collapse of Washington's memorandum of understanding with Iran, which led to renewed hostilities and shipping chaos, the prospect of the group restricting transit to assist their allies in Tehran has become a major source of concern for international powers.

Several pro-Iran Iraqi militias had expressed support for the Houthi blocked ahead of the US-Saudi strikes on Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) bases across Iraq on Wednesday dawn.

Riyadh had recently accused such Iran-aligned Iraqi factions of carrying out drone attacks on its oil infrastructure, posing a stark threat amid the Houthis’ ongoing targeting of Saudi shipping in the Red Sea.