London/Dubai. Yemen's Houthi group is considering imposing fees on commercial ships sailing through the southern Red Sea, a week after declaring a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, regional sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The Iran-aligned Houthis on July 20 declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia, opening a new front against the United States and its allies in the Iran war while expanding attacks on tankers carrying global energy supplies and other cargo beyond the Gulf.
The Houthis are considering imposing fees on most vessels passing through the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which links the southern Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, the sources said. No timeframe has been set for implementing the measure.
The group's media office did not respond to a request for comment.
Houthi officials travelled to Iran in July to attend the funeral of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, where Iranian counterparts discussed the possibility of imposing fees on vessels transiting Bab el-Mandeb, two regional officials briefed by Tehran told Reuters.
The aim would be to normalise the practice of charging fees on international waterways while increasing pressure on the United States, the sources said. Chinese vessels would be exempt, and the Houthis support the arrangement, they added.
China has held direct talks with the Houthis to allow its tankers to pass safely through the southern Red Sea, sources have previously told Reuters. China is the world's largest buyer of Saudi Arabian oil.
Iranian advisers guide fee plan
Houthi officials returning from Tehran were accompanied by Iranian advisers tasked with helping establish a potential authority to regulate fees for vessels passing through Bab el-Mandeb, an Arab official in the region said.
"The Houthis will try to gain control over the Red Sea and they will try to charge ships if they do," Afrah al-Zouba, foreign minister-designate in Yemen's internationally recognised government, told Reuters.
Such a move would face strong opposition from Gulf and European countries. However, overstretched international naval forces are currently unable to provide sufficient protection for merchant shipping, and there is little political appetite to change that, two Western diplomats said.
Tehran has also rejected Oman's proposal for joint regional management of the Strait of Hormuz, which included voluntary transit fees for ships, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Wednesday, undermining hopes of resolving months of disruption to Gulf trade through the strategic waterway.
Saudi Arabia faces supply threat
Any closure of Bab el-Mandeb would deprive Saudi Arabia of a vital alternative route to the Strait of Hormuz and heighten concerns over global oil supplies.
Traffic through the Red Sea has yet to recover fully since Houthi attacks on shipping off Yemen's coast began in November 2023, when the group said it was acting in solidarity with Palestinians during the Gaza war. The attacks on merchant vessels only ceased after the Gaza ceasefire last October.
At least one Saudi tanker has been attacked in the past week off the southern Saudi port of Jizan, near Yemen, with the Houthis claiming responsibility.
The Houthis have previously been accused of collecting fees from some shipping agencies using the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden during the height of their maritime campaign in 2024 in exchange for safe passage. A 2024 UN Panel of Experts report cited the allegations but said it was unable to verify them independently.
The report estimated the fees may have reached $180 million a month, although the figure could not be confirmed.
Sailing through Bab el-Mandeb to Asia takes an average of 16 days, compared with 50 days if vessels are rerouted through the northern Red Sea, the Suez Canal and around southern Africa.
