Note: our interactive map shows where the events behind the Red Sea Brief and the Red Sea Legal Letter took place. Red Sea Futures’ proprietary agentic model assisted in the creation of this report.

Houthis Target Saudi Vessels

On September 20 Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, declared a tit-for-tat “blockade for blockade” and “escalation for escalation” approach against Saudi Arabia, framing the group’s blockade as a retaliation for the blockade Saudi Arabia maintains on Houthi-held ports. He declared that non-Saudi shipping through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab faced “no threat from Yemen”, with Saudi vessels as the group’s sole stated target. Mohamed al-Bukhaiti of the movement’s political bureau said the same day that the Houthis had assured the US administration they would not target American ships in the Red Sea. The ban on Saudi shipping itself dates from July; Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree repeated it on September 11, the day Houthi forces crossed to Mayun Island, also called Perim, reported in Red Sea Brief Issue 19. 

Two days earlier, on September 18, the Security Council had issued press statement SC/16458, which notably lacks the binding force of a resolution. In it, members affirmed “the inherent right of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to self-defense in accordance with international law.”

The Houthis' Saudi-only threat reassured other shipowners and left Riyadh to face it alone. According to Danial Kaysi, who advises on Saudi geopolitical risk from Riyadh, the Security Council’s statement’s value lies in “breaking the Houthi wedge, gaining international recognition that a ‘Saudi-only’ blockade threatens international shipping and, through Article 51’s collective self-defense, licensing partners to help.”