Houthi official says Bab al-Mandeb may be closed

A senior official from Yemen’s Houthis warned that the group could close the Bab al-Mandeb Strait if US President Donald Trump continues what he described as obstructing peace.

Hussein al-Ezzi, deputy foreign minister in Sanaa, wrote on X, “If Sanaa decides to close the Bab al-Mandeb, then all of mankind and jinn will be utterly powerless to open it.”

“And therefore, it is best for Trump — and the complicit world — to immediately end all practices and policies that obstruct peace, and to show the respect required for the rights of our people and nation,” he said.

The Bab al-Mandeb connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and is a key shipping route for global trade, particularly oil and other fuels moving between the Gulf, Europe and Asia.

Sailors aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) collect pallets of supplies during a replenishment-at-sea with the Military Sealift Command dry cargo and ammunition ship USNS Wally Schirra (T-AKE 8) in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, Oct. 30, 2020. — Sailors aboard USS Winston S. Churchill collect supplies from USNS Wally Schirra in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, 30 October 2020. ZUMA Press via Reuters

This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.

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