Another Hormuz? What to know about the Houthi threat to the Red Sea

This article was originally published on CFR.org.

As the United States and Iran remain locked in a struggle for control over the Strait of Hormuz, concerns are mounting about the security of another regional maritime chokepoint: the Red Sea. On July 20, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels declared that they would impose a complete naval blockade on Saudi Arabia. Although they didn’t provide specifics on what the blockade would entail, Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen runs directly along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait—at the south end of the Red Sea—which Saudi Arabia uses to export oil to the global market. The Houthis’ announcement comes more than a month after the group banned all Israeli and Israeli-linked ships from transiting the Red Sea, calling them “legitimate military targets.”