Yemen’s Houthis considering fees for ships sailing through Red Sea, sources say

The Iran-backed Houthi terror group is considering copying Iran’s Strait of Hormuz toll scheme and imposing fees on ships sailing through the southern Red Sea, according to people with knowledge on the matter. 

The Yemen-based rebel group is looking to extend Iran’s control on tanker traffic and global fuel supplies in the region by seizing full control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which links the southern Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, sources told Reuters. 

“The Houthis will try to gain access over the Red Sea, and they will try to charge ships if they do,” said Afrah al-Zouba, foreign minister-designate with Yemen’s internationally recognized government. 

The plan was allegedly put together after Houthi officials traveled to Iran earlier this month during the cease-fire to attend the funeral of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.  

During the trip, Houthi officials spoke with their Iranian counterparts on how to recreate what’s being done in the Strait of Hormuz in the Bab el-Mandeb gateway, two regional sources briefed by Tehran said. 

The Iranian advisers who are helping put the plan together were reportedly on the very plane Yemen’s Saudi-backed government tried to attack earlier this month to stop it from landing in the country, an Arab official told Reuters. 

The advisers are now on the ground and helping set up a government body that would regulate the fees and traffic, similar to the one Iran has developed to oversee travel in the Strait of Hormuz.

By doing so, Tehran hopes to normalize the practice of imposing tolls on international waterways and increase pressure on the US, the sources added. 

Only China, which serves as Iran and Saudi Arabia’s biggest oil customer, would be supposedly exempt from paying any fees in the Red Sea. 

The full extent of the Red Sea toll scheme remains unclear, but the Houthis’ previous plan to collect fees in the region in 2024 during the Israel-Hamas war allegedly netted the terror group $180 million a month, according to a UN Panel of Experts report at the time. 

The Houthis move comes as Tehran and Washington continue to trade blows over Iran’s claim to the Strait of Hormuz. 

Tensions escalated further on Wednesday when the US Treasury imposed another round of sanctions on 18 entities related to Iran’s shadow fleet and Strait of Hormuz authority. 

The sanctions directly targeted the Persian Gulf Marine Insurance Co and HormuzSafe Marine Services Authority, which the Treasury’s Office said were at the center of Iran’s toll scheme.  

“With its economy in freefall and inflation in the triple digits, the regime is desperate for cash,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement.

“The United States will not allow Iran to hold global commerce hostage or use international shipping to finance the IRGC’s ‌terrorism, ⁠aggression, and repression,” he added. 

With Post wires