Iran seeks end to blockade of Yemen

MOKHA TAKEOVER: The Houthis’ entry into a Red Sea port threatens an important waterway, while Riyadh said it has the right to defense in response to the group

The Iranian government yesterday called for an end to Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Yemen and the immediate resumption of talks, in its first public statement since Iran-backed Houthi rebels entered a key Yemeni port and intensified their threat to a key global shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

In a statement carried by the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Yemen’s sovereignty must be respected and its problems cannot be resolved through a blockade or military alliances.

Iran said it was ready to help support negotiations.

Houthi militants ride a motorbike in Sana’a on Thursday.

Photo: AP

Meanwhile, experts say the developments in Yemen could give Tehran more leverage in any negotiations with the US after more than six months of war.

The Houthis’ entry into the Red Sea port of Mokha on Thursday brought the group within 80km of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, an important alternative for global shipping as Iran targets vessels on the Strait of Hormuz.

It is the rebels’ biggest territorial gain in years.

The Bab el-Mandeb at the southern end of the Red Sea is especially important to neighboring Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, with its blockade of the Houthis feeding into the rebels’ escalating attacks on Saudi Arabian shipping as the kingdom tries to get its oil out of the region.

Saudi Arabia, which earlier this week said it had always offered “opportunities for negotiation,” also has said it has the right to defend itself in response to the Houthis’ actions under the blockade they declared on the kingdom in July.

The National Defense Council of Yemen’s Saudi Arabian-backed and internationally recognized government on Thursday condemned the Houthis’ renewed attacks on Saudi Arabia, saying it would respond to threats.

It said a military operation by Yemeni forces would not be limited to a single front.

The sharply escalating fighting threatens to end a fragile truce that had largely halted Yemen’s civil war since 2022.

At stake are the 40 million people in the Arab world’s poorest country who fear a return to the conflict that killed 150,000 and brought many others to the brink of famine.

The Houthis have been at war with Yemen’s government since 2014, when the rebels swept from their mountainous heartland and seized much of northern and central Yemen.

Saudi Arabia entered the war the following year on behalf of the government.

Hans Grundberg, the UN’s envoy to Yemen, warned that the nation now faces the “harsh reality” of a return to war.

Grundberg told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday afternoon that the international community must address this “new and more dangerous phase — one whose consequences, if left unchecked, will not stay within Yemen’s borders.”