Iran Urges End to Saudi Blockade as Houthis Seize Key Yemeni Port

Iran's foreign ministry on Friday called for an end to Saudi Arabia's blockade of Yemen and for the immediate resumption of talks, in its first public response to the Iran-backed Houthi rebels' capture of a key Red Sea port.

In a statement carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, the ministry said Yemen's sovereignty must be respected and that the country's problems could not be settled through a blockade or military alliances. Iran added that it was prepared to help support negotiations.

The Houthis entered the port of Mokha on Thursday, their most significant territorial gain in years. The advance brings the rebels to within 50 miles (80 kilometres) of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital alternative route for global shipping as Iran targets vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

The Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern end of the Red Sea, is particularly important to neighbouring Saudi Arabia, a key United States ally. About 12 per cent of the world's goods are typically shipped through the strait, and any disruption could affect shipping broadly and push crude oil prices higher. The Houthis have in recent weeks targeted Saudi oil infrastructure and ships on the Red Sea.

Saudi Arabia said earlier this week that it had always offered opportunities for negotiation, while also asserting its right to defend itself against Houthi actions under the blockade the rebels declared on the kingdom in July.

Shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb had fallen by roughly 60 per cent since the Houthis began attacking some vessels there in late 2023 in what they described as solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. Traffic increased this year as Saudi Arabia sought alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz, but renewed Houthi threats have curtailed that activity, according to Lloyd's List Intelligence.

Yemen's Saudi-backed and internationally recognised government, through its National Defence Council, strongly condemned the Houthis' renewed attacks on Saudi Arabia and said it would respond to threats. It warned that any military operation by Yemeni forces would not be confined to a single front.

The sharply escalating fighting threatens to end a fragile truce that had largely halted Yemen's civil war since 2022. At stake are the 40 million people of the Arab world's poorest country, who fear a return to a conflict that killed 150,000 and brought many others to the brink of famine.

The Houthis have been at war with Yemen's government since 2014, when the rebels swept from their mountainous heartland and seized much of northern and central Yemen. Saudi Arabia entered the war the following year on behalf of the government.