In the news
On 16 July, Yemen’s Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi warned that if Saudi Arabia escalates its involvement in the conflict, the group will target all Saudi oil facilities and other vital infrastructure with missiles and drones. The threat followed Houthi missile strikes on Saudi Arabia, after the group accused Riyadh of bombing the Saana airport under their control on 13 June, effectively ending a four-year truce between the two sides.
On 21 July, the Houthis declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabian vessels transiting through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait in the Red Sea. The group also sent e-mail threats to shipping companies, warning them against using Saudi ports, or they may be targeted.
The Saudi-backed coalition government in Yemen stated that they would respond to the threat through military force and has adopted measures to secure the strait.
On 23 July, the group declared that it attacked two Saudi oil tankers, Encelia and Layla, in the Red Sea that had "violated" its blockade of Saudi ports.
President Trump warned that a repeated attack would be met with "major military punishment" upon both the Houthis and Iran.
Issues at large
1. The long-standing Saudi Arabia-Houthi conflict
The latest flare-up between Riyadh and the Iran-backed Houthis have broken the fragile truce that had taken hold four-years back in 2022. The Houthi’s began as a Zaidi Shia group from northern Yemen in the early 2000s. The group repeatedly clashed with the Saudi-backed government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. The Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of interfering in Yemeni affairs and supporting crackdowns against them. Tensions escalated dramatically in 2014-2015, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa amid Yemen’s civil unrest, ousted the internationally recognized government of President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, and advanced toward key areas, prompting Saudi Arabia to form a nine-nation military coalition in March 2015. The intervention, initially called Operation Decisive Storm, aimed to restore Hadi’s government, secure Saudi Arabia’s borders, and counter Iranian influence through the Houthis. The intervention led to one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, with widespread civilian casualties, famine risks, cholera outbreaks, and infrastructure destruction. A fragile truce was set in place in 2022 and had largely held in terms of Saudi-Houthi clashes, which has been broken by the latest outbreak.
2. The Iran-Houthi axis
The Houthi’s hold a central position in Iran’s network of regional proxies, or the ‘Axis of Resistance.’ The Houthis initially rose with grievances against the central government, but Iran saw strategic value in supporting them as a low-cost lever against Saudi Arabia and broader Sunni Gulf powers, particularly leveraging their control of the Red Sea chokepoints. Tehran provides advanced weaponry, including ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, explosives, drones and other military support to the group’s operations, often smuggled through the Red Sea. IRGC-Quds Force have also trained the group in combat. Financially, Iran supplies funding, gold and sanctions-evasion networks to sustain Houthi operations. While the Houthis retain considerable autonomy in decision-making, Iran provides overarching guidance, especially during escalations, encouraging actions like Red Sea disruptions.
3. The Red Sea blockade and the compounding crisis
The Houthi blockade on Saudi vessels and the Red Sea has dramatically compounded the ongoing Strait of Hormuz crisis by simultaneously threatening both the primary and alternative export routes for Gulf oil. Following the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea corridor had acted as a key transit point for oil and shipping vessels from the Middle East. Saudi Arabia had responded by rerouting a significant portion of its crude through the East-West Pipeline to Red Sea ports like Yanbu, with recent volumes reaching several million bpd, much of it heading south through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The Bab el-Mandeb typically handles 4-9 million bpd of oil and products, forming a critical southern gateway for shipments to Asia and Europe.
By imposing a naval embargo and claiming attacks on Saudi-linked tankers, the Houthis have forced rerouting around the Cape of Good Hope, adding thousands of miles, 10-14 days of transit time, and sharply higher costs, while spiking insurance rates and oil prices to USD 100 per barrel. This dual-chokepoint pressure severely risks broader energy market instability.
In perspective
The latest Saudi-Houthi flare-up has effectively opened a dangerous new front in the broader regional war by shattering the fragile four-year truce and dragging Riyadh back into direct confrontation with the Houthi’s. What began with accusations over the Sanaa airport bombing quickly escalated into Houthi missile and drone strikes on Saudi targets and their declaration of a naval blockade on Saudi vessels in the Red Sea, directly threatening the kingdom’s alternative oil export routes through Bab el-Mandeb at a time when the Strait of Hormuz is already under severe pressure. This mirrors how escalation in the US-Iran conflict rips open old and unhealed conflicts across the region, long-simmering rivalries and unresolved grievances that were never truly settled, only temporarily suppressed during brief spells of uneasy calm. The pattern had been earlier visible in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict as well, where conflicts lie dormant, waiting for minor hairpin triggers to set off conflicts.
