Yemen’s Houthi movement has denied reports that it intends to charge vessels passing through the Red Sea, insisting the strategic shipping route remains open and free to use despite speculation over new transit fees.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have rejected claims that they are planning to charge vessels for transiting the Red Sea, insisting the waterway remains open to free passage.
The denial was contained in a statement released Saturday by the Houthi-run Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center (HOCC), the body responsible for monitoring vessel movement through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. According to the statement, its “safe transit service” is voluntary and free of charge, and any individual or group demanding payment for passage does not speak for Yemen or the HOCC. The center called on shipping companies to refrain from making payments or disclosing information to 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.
