Houthi official says Bab al-Mandeb may be closed
A senior official from Yemen’s Houthis warned that the group could close the Bab al-Mandeb Strait if US President Donald Trump continues what he described as obstructing peace.
Hussein al-Ezzi, deputy foreign minister in Sanaa, wrote on X, “If Sanaa decides to close the Bab al-Mandeb, then all of mankind and jinn will be utterly powerless to open it.”
“And therefore, it is best for Trump — and the complicit world — to immediately end all practices and policies that obstruct peace, and to show the respect required for the rights of our people and nation,” he said.
The Bab al-Mandeb connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and is a key shipping route for global trade, particularly oil and other fuels moving between the Gulf, Europe and Asia.
Sailors aboard USS Winston S. Churchill collect supplies from USNS Wally Schirra in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, 30 October 2020. ZUMA Press via Reuters