Houthis declare total ban on Israeli ships in Red Sea, threatening return of shipping crisis
Yemen’s Houthi movement announced a complete ban on Israeli vessels in the Red Sea on Monday, declaring that any Israeli ship attempting to pass through the waterway would be treated as a military target.
The declaration came as part of the broader escalation between Iran and Israel that saw both countries strike each other’s territory for the first time since the April ceasefire. The Houthis are Iran’s most significant proxy force in the Arabian Peninsula, and their announcement effectively opens a second maritime front in the conflict.
“First: We declare a complete and total ban on maritime navigation for the Israeli enemy in the Red Sea, and we consider all enemy movements to be military targets for our Armed Forces from the moment this statement is issued,” the group said in a statement.
The Houthis also claimed to have fired rockets toward central Israel on Monday. Israeli authorities reported no injuries.
The Red Sea ban is not a new tactic — the Houthis began attacking commercial shipping in the waterway in late 2023 following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war. Those attacks forced major shipping lines to reroute around the Cape of Good Hope, adding weeks to transit times and driving up global freight costs. A US-led naval coalition, including British and French forces, spent much of 2024 and 2025 intercepting Houthi drones and missiles.
That campaign had largely suppressed the Houthi threat by the time the Iran ceasefire took effect in April. Monday’s declaration signals that the group is ready to resume its campaign.
The timing is critical. With oil prices already surging 3.6 percent on Monday after Israel struck Iranian military targets, the prospect of a renewed Red Sea shipping crisis adds another layer of pressure on global supply chains. The Bab el-Mandeb strait, which the Houthis effectively control from the Yemeni coast, is one of the world’s most vital maritime chokepoints.
The Houthis have also shown they can coordinate with Tehran. The group’s Red Sea campaign in 2023-2025 was synchronized with Iranian strategic objectives, and their missile and drone capabilities improved significantly with Iranian technical assistance. Monday’s statement suggests that Iran’s broader escalation with Israel has reactivated its proxy network across the region.
Vanguard, a maritime security firm, warned that vessels in the region should maintain “heightened vigilance.” The practical question is whether existing naval patrols have the capacity to handle both theaters simultaneously. US and allied forces are already running the Strait of Hormuz blockade that has choked Iran’s oil exports since February. The US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, is the primary force in both the Gulf and the Red Sea, and its resources are finite.
A return to the 2023-2024 shipping crisis would be felt globally. During the peak of the Houthi campaign, major shipping lines — Maersk, MSC, Hapag-Lloyd — rerouted vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, adding roughly 10 days to each voyage between Asia and Europe. Freight rates tripled. The Suez Canal, which normally handles about 12 percent of global trade, saw revenues drop by more than 40 percent.
Egypt, already struggling with a severe economic crisis, cannot afford another revenue hit to the Suez Canal. The Gulf states, which rely on Red Sea ports for their non-oil exports, would also be affected.
The Houthi declaration is a reminder that the Iran war has never been a two-player conflict. Tehran’s proxy network extends from Lebanon to Yemen to Iraq, and each node can be activated independently. Monday’s ban effectively tells the world that the Houthis are back in the fight — and that the Red Sea is no longer safe for Israeli-linked shipping.