On 20 July 2026, the Houthis said they would blockade Saudi ships trying to pass through the Bab el-Mandeb, answering what they called a “continued Saudi siege” of Yemen. Saudi Arabia replied that it would “take all necessary measures to protect its vessels.”
The strait sits between Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula and Djibouti and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa. It joins the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. At its narrowest it is 26 kilometres across, which squeezes tanker traffic into two channels, one inbound and one outbound, each about two miles wide.
Why it matters
Here is what that means in plain terms. Think of the strait as the one on-ramp to the Suez Canal for ships coming up from the south. Most petroleum and natural gas leaving the Persian Gulf for the canal or the SUMED Pipeline goes through both Bab el-Mandeb and the Strait of Hormuz. Close the on-ramp and tankers must go around the southern tip of Africa, which adds transit time and cost.
The volumes have grown. About 3.3 million barrels a day went through in 2006, out of roughly 43 million moved by tanker worldwide. By 2014 the figure was 5.1 million barrels a day, and by 2018 an estimated 6.2 million. In 2017 the strait carried about 9% of seaborne petroleum trade. Some 3.6 million barrels a day moved north toward Europe and 2.6 million went the other way, mainly to Asian buyers such as Singapore, China and India.
Power and fibre-optic cables also run under the narrow passage, which draws the attention of intelligence services.
A long fight over control
The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 turned the strait into a strategic chokepoint. Britain held the island of Perim from 1799 until 1967, using it as a coaling station for steamships until 1935. The Soviet Union kept a strong presence there from 1967 to 1986. In Djibouti, France was present from 1862 until independence in 1977. Today the United States runs Camp Lemonnier, and China, Japan and Italy have bases there too.
Piracy brought patrols. Twenty-two regional states signed the Djibouti Code of Conduct in 2009. Later operations included Saudi-led Operation Golden Spear in 2017, Operation Prosperity Guardian in 2023 and the EU-led Operation Aspides from 2024.
The Houthi campaign
After Israel’s invasion of Gaza in October 2023, the Iran-backed Houthis attacked Israeli, American and British tankers and commercial ships in the Red Sea. A ceasefire was brokered in late 2025. Yemeni forces had already declared the strait closed to Israeli-owned and Israeli-flagged shipping from 11 March 2025.
In April 2026, Houthi official Hussein al-Ezzi warned that the strait could be shut, saying “no force would be able to reopen it” if Sanaa decided to close it. The warning came during tensions over the U.S. naval blockade of Iran.
In September 2026, renewed fighting in Yemen raised fresh concern. The World Food Programme warned that instability around the waterway could disrupt the movement of food, fuel and goods between Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
