Houthis Declare Maritime Embargo of Saudi Arabia, Threaten Bab el-Mandeb Strait

According to CNBC, Iran's Houthi allies in Yemen on Monday declared a maritime embargo of Saudi Arabia and again threatened to close the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and global markets. The report said Riyadh has diverted millions of barrels of oil per day to an export terminal on the Red Sea as the U.S.-Iran war has disrupted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. A closure of Bab el-Mandeb would block those barrels and worsen the oil supply disruption, while crude prices were little changed after the announcement.