Yemen’s Houthis deny plans to charge ships for Red Sea passage

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have denied planning to charge ships for passing through the Red Sea, saying passage through the waterway remains free.

The denial came in a statement issued Saturday by the Houthi-run Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center (HOCC), which oversees vessel movement through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. It said its “safe transit service” was voluntary and free of charge, adding that anyone demanding payment for passage did not represent Yemen or the HOCC. It urged shipping companies not to make payments or share information with unauthorised parties.

The statement follows a Reuters news agency report on Wednesday, citing regional sources, that the Iran-aligned Houthis were considering imposing fees on ships transiting the strait – a week after the group declared a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia. Those sources said the idea was raised with Iranian officials during a Houthi visit to Tehran earlier in July, with Iranian advisers reportedly helping set up an authority to regulate the fees.

The Bab al-Mandeb Strait is a vital chokepoint linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, used by ships carrying oil and other cargo between Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Any fee on passage would echo Iran’s own efforts to charge ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely shut since the US-Israel war on Iran began earlier this year.

Yemen’s foreign minister-designate, Afrah al-Zouba, said on Tuesday that the Houthis were seeking to “copy the Iranian model”.

A toll on Bab al-Mandeb would hit Saudi Arabia especially hard, since the kingdom has increasingly relied on the strait as an alternative export route while Hormuz remains disrupted.

The Houthis have waged a long campaign against Red Sea shipping, beginning in 2023 after the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, and only pausing attacks after a ceasefire last October. A United Nations expert report found that the group may have collected significant informal fees from shipping agents in 2024, though this was never independently verified. Traffic through the strait has still not recovered to pre-2023 levels.

In response to the renewed threat, Saudi Arabia this week announced a 14-nation maritime coalition aimed at protecting freedom of navigation through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.