LONDON: Four Saudi crude tankers were forced to turn back on Tuesday after Yemen’s Houthi militia warned that any vessel calling at Saudi ports could be targeted “in any location within the operational reach of the Yemeni Armed Forces,” marking a sharp escalation in their Red Sea campaign.
The threat, issued a day after the group declared a maritime blockade against Saudi Arabia, has heightened tensions around the Bab Al‑Mandab Strait, a critical chokepoint for global trade and energy flows.
It also pushes the Houthis beyond harassment of Israel‑linked shipping and more squarely into the Iran war, at a moment when Western naval forces are already deployed and Riyadh appears increasingly willing to defend its Red Sea lifelines.
However, by directly threatening Saudi‑bound trade, it has raised the stakes not only for Riyadh, but also for Washington and the wider international community.
“This latest escalation against Saudi Arabia is another example of the Houthis relying on military pressure and the threat of wider conflict as a negotiating tactic,” Mohammed Al-Basha, founder of US-based risk consultancy Basha Report, told Arab News.
