YEMEN. A Houthi supporter holds a poster with an image of the Houthis’s leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, as he speaks on a mobile phone during a demonstration in solidarity with Iran, as the US-Israeli conflict with Iran continues, in Sanaa, Yemen, March 27, 2026.
The Red Sea has become a new front in the Iran war, with the Houthis taking an escalatory approach against Saudi Arabia by firing missiles and drones at the kingdom and declaring a blockade on Saudi shipping
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Yemen’s Houthi Movement aims to replicate Iran’s Hormuz Strait strategy in the Red Sea by disrupting shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb and has been emboldened by an insufficient international response, Yemen’s top diplomat said on Monday, July 27.
“The Houthis want to copy the Iranian model and this will shut down two main straits, the gateways into the Gulf and Red Sea,” Yemeni Foreign Minister-designate Afrah Al-Zouba said, speaking to a small group of journalists at the Yemeni embassy in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
The Red Sea has become a new front in the Iran war, with the Houthis taking an escalatory approach against Saudi Arabia by firing missiles and drones at the kingdom and declaring a blockade on Saudi shipping.
