Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi fighters have claimed attacks on two Saudi vessels in the Red Sea and turned back at least ten additional ships after warning maritime companies to avoid Saudi ports, according to a BBC report published July 23, 2026. The actions disrupt traffic through the Bab El Mandeb Strait — the narrow waterway linking the southern Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and the primary shipping route from Europe to Asia. Ship-tracking data cited by Reuters on July 22 showed more vessels changing course in the Red Sea following the Houthi threats.

The Houthi militia, also known as Ansarullah, sent emails to shipping companies warning them not to load or discharge cargo at Saudi Arabian ports or risk being targeted, Reuters reported on July 21. The group's Al-Masirah media outlet described the campaign as a "maritime blockade imposed on the Saudi enemy in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden." Saudi Arabia condemned the naval blockade, according to Al Jazeera on July 21. The Houthi-claimed strikes on the two Saudi vessels came days after the militia formally announced its naval embargo on Saudi shipping. Saudi Arabia confirmed that one of the tankers hit was ablaze, Reuters reported on June 8, when the threat to Israeli and Saudi shipping in the corridor first escalated.

The broader context here is a layered crisis across two critical maritime chokepoints. A chokepoint is a narrow passage of water that ships must pass through, making it especially vulnerable to disruption. Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, the BBC reports, disrupting global energy and fertiliser supplies. In partial mitigation, Saudi Arabia has been routing oil from its Eastern Province oilfields to the Red Sea export terminal at Yanbu' Al-Bahr via the East-West Pipeline, bypassing the Hormuz chokepoint entirely. Think of it as taking a detour around a blocked road — but the detour's endpoint now faces its own roadblock.

That workaround faces a direct threat at its western terminus, where the Houthi blockade menaces the Red Sea exit route. The military picture is simultaneously expanding. US Central Command has carried out twelve consecutive nights of air strikes targeting Iranian coastal radar, drone, and missile infrastructure as of the BBC's July 23 report. President Donald Trump vowed to "take care of the Houthis," per the BBC. According to Al-Masirah, Ansarullah retains roughly 80 percent of its missile capabilities capable of targeting American ships and vessels at sea.

The Houthi escalation against Saudi shipping follows a directive from Tehran. Iran told the Houthis to close the Red Sea gateway if the United States struck Iran's power network, Reuters reported on July 16, citing sources. That condition links the Bab El Mandeb closure directly to the US-Iran escalatory cycle, making the Red Sea blockade contingent on American actions elsewhere. The ceasefire that the Houthis reached with Saudi Arabia in 2022 appeared to have broken down by the time of the BBC's 2026 report. A ceasefire is a formal agreement to halt fighting. The collapse of that truce removes a constraint that had previously limited Houthi operations against Saudi targets.

Looking at what this means for maritime logistics, average monthly sailings through the Red Sea reached 1,034 crossings in March 2026, according to Reuters. Any sustained disruption to that volume compounds the Hormuz closure. Saudi Arabia's reliance on the East-West Pipeline was designed precisely for a Hormuz-contingency scenario, but the emerging threat at Bab El Mandeb leaves Riyadh's overland bypass exposed at its maritime exit. A sustained Houthi blockade would challenge a stretched US military already engaged in operations against Iranian infrastructure, Reuters reported on July 22.

The combination of the Hormuz closure and the Red Sea blockade raises the prospect of a dual-chokepoint crisis in which energy and fertiliser supply chains face simultaneous disruption at both ends of the Arabian Peninsula. If both straits remain closed or contested, the ripple effects would extend well beyond the region, potentially reshaping global shipping routes and raising costs for energy and food supplies worldwide.