Houthis threaten to block shipping in the Red Sea

Yemen’s Houthi rebels have threatened to block the vital shipping route that connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.

The president of the Iranbacked rebels’ “political council”, which runs Sanaa and other territory, made the threat in a meeting on Monday with the deputy UN envoy to Yemen.

Council president Saleh Al Samad told the UN’s Maeen Shureim that the Houthis would turn to “strategic choices” if the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen did not stop trying to retake ports in Hodeidah province, on the Red Sea.

Pro-government forces backed by the coalition have been making rapid advances in Hodeidah, hoping to prevent the Houthis from using the province’s ports to smuggle in weapons from Iran.

The Red Sea runs between two choke-points, the Suez Canal and Bab El Mandeb.

The US Energy Information Administration estimated that 4.7 million barrels of oil a day were shipped through Bab El Mandeb daily in 2014, mostly headed for markets in Europe.

On the other side of the Suez Canal lies the Mediterranean Sea, and on the other side of the Bab El Mandeb the Gulf of Aden.

Mr Shureim arrived in Sanaa on Saturday to resume peace talks. He was due to meet with Houthi leaders to dicuss the way for another round of negotiations with the government.

Mr Al Samad criticised the UN’s efforts to resolve the war in Yemen, including the role of special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

The Saudi-led coalition, in which the UAE plays a leading role, has been fighting in Yemen since March 2015. It wants to restore president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi to power.

His internationally recognised government was forced to flee the capital, Sanaa, after it was seized by the Houthis in September 2014.